


How to Break a Curse

by SingingInTheRaiin



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: At Least To Begin With, Brainwashing, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Gen, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Torture, Kidnapping, M/M, Magic, Post-Iron Man 1, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Witches, pre everything else, some parts taken from the swan princess, unfortunately, you know the cartoon movie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-02
Updated: 2019-11-18
Packaged: 2021-01-20 19:09:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 28,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21286730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SingingInTheRaiin/pseuds/SingingInTheRaiin
Summary: I know it's very cliche at this point, but this is my take on the Tony being turned into a cat trope, complete with a witch, a curse, and a lot of homesickness. In the movies, it's always true love's kiss that breaks the spell. Too bad Tony doesn't have a prince charming... or does he?
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark
Comments: 27
Kudos: 261





	1. Chapter 1

Tony had searched for the woman for days, and at last his patience was paying off. He watched her step inside of one of those new-age hippy shops that sold herbal remedies and whatnot. Of course that’s where she’d end up going. Not that Tony really cared. It was far more important that he got to talk to her than that he would get to talk in a more comforting environment. 

He rushed into the shop, and looked around, but to his surprise and frustration, the woman was nowhere in sight. In fact, the only person in the entire shop was a bored looking young woman who was sitting behind the counter, scrolling through something on her phone.

Normally Tony would just go up to the counter and utilize his usual charm and grace to get the answers that he needed. Unfortunately, there was absolutely nothing about this situation that was normal. And if everything had been normal, then Tony wouldn’t have spent the past couple of days chasing down a mysterious old woman.

Well, different circumstances require different solutions than what Tony would usually end up doing, but he could still make this work. He was Tony freakin’ Stark, one of the smartest, most charismatic people in the world. Of course he could charm a young lady into helping him.

He sidled up to her, and cleared his throat, though a soft rumble came out instead. The woman looked up from her phone, and looked around the empty shop for a moment before she thought to look down. As soon as she spotted Tony, her eyes widened, and a big grin spread across her face. “Well hello there. Hm, I doubt you’re a paying customer. Where did you come from?”

Tony tried answering her questions, but to his utter irritation, nothing came out but the sound of soft meows.

,,,

A week ago, Tony had been living his usual life, drinking and doing unnecessary outrageous things, and getting up to whatever shenanigans he could, all while balancing the work of trying to save the world both through clean energy, and through his time as Iron Man. It was a lot for anyone to handle, though the fact that he was Tony Stark meant that he could (and if he had to sacrifice sleep, well, it was no big deal. It’s not like he’d gotten a single good night’s rest since Afghanistan anyways). 

Overall, Tony thought that he was doing pretty well, or about as well as a guy in his situation could do. And he was feeling particularly generous as he’d walked through a small out of the way park. He thought of it as ‘his’, since he never saw anyone else there. Though the fact that there was an old woman there this time didn’t mean he wasn’t going to appreciate the place.

After a few minutes, the woman had made her way over to Tony. And while he wasn’t surprised, because he was a household name and face, he was a bit disappointed to have his peaceful time interrupted. But he put on his best smile as he looked at the woman and waited for her to request a photo with him, or an autograph, or to ask him what it was like to be Iron Man.

What he didn’t expect was for the woman to look at him with something like disdain in her eyes. “Tony Stark. The man who has it all.”

He got a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. There were other encounters he had on occasion that were with people who were certainly not his fans. People who blamed him for those they’d lost because of his weapons, or because of New York being destroyed by aliens, or just because they didn’t like the ‘smug look’ he always had. And regardless of whether the blame really was Tony’s or not, he always felt guilty. “Look, Miss, uh…?”

Instead of filling in her name for him, she just continued to stare at him. He shifted uncomfortably on his feet, not sure what the lady’s deal was. “You’re quite pathetic,” she said slowly.

Tony crossed his arms over his chest. “Now wait just a minute, that’s not-”

“But that’s alright,” she continued as if Tony hadn’t said a word. “You’re just stuck, is all. I can help you with that.” Then without any warning she reached out and tapped Tony’s forehead (and despite the utter bizarreness of the situation, Tony still took the time to feel miffed about the fact that she didn’t even pretend to have to reach up because they were the same height). Then the lady took a few steps back, and gave a nod of satisfaction, the kind normally associated with a job well done. “Take your time, Mr. Stark. Healing doesn’t happen overnight. Other things do, though.” Then she walked off, cackling to herself like some kind of witch straight out of an old fairy tale.

Tony watched her go in somewhat of a daze, and then decided that it was time to cut his walk short and head back to the tower. It’s not like he didn’t have work that he needed to get done, and there was only so much fresh air that a man could handle, especially when it came with crazies like that lady.

As soon as he’d stepped back into his lab, Tony got lost in one of his projects, and all the thoughts of the strange encounter were pushed aside to make way for more important things. He worked all through the night, until he eventually fell asleep at his worktable (even though Jarvis had already suggested several times that he retire to the penthouse for the night). 

When Tony had woken up the next morning, he immediately knew that there was something wrong. For one thing, he seemed to have even more trouble breathing than normal. For another, everything in the lab suddenly seemed like it had been built for giants. 

He tried to ask Jarvis what was going on, but all that came out of his mouth was as small meow. He’d stumbled to his feet, and when he looked down, he saw little black paws instead of normal feet or a torso, or any of the things that one would expect to see when they looked down at their body. And well, Tony was a genius, so he was smart enough to figure out that if it looked like a cat and sounded like a cat… 

Eventually he had managed to leave the tower, since he knew that Jarvis wasn’t going to be able to help even if the AI did understand that the cat running around was, in fact, Tony. Tony had to take the stairs all the way down, though, because he couldn’t reach the buttons to summon the elevator, not even when he tried springing off of the closest chair.

Getting down felt like it took forever, and Tony quickly realized that the cat body he was in was not in much better condition than his human body had been. Maybe it was even worse off, since cats weren’t designed to live nearly as long as humans in the first place.

But he refused to give up, and he’d eventually made it down. Then he had to make the daunting trip to the park. It was so much more difficult, and more frightening, when the world felt like it was so big it would just swallow him up, and he was constantly afraid of getting stepped on by any of the thousands of people that he had to pass by. At least he wasn’t directionally challenged, because then he’d probably get lost in the city and die on a street corner somewhere.

As it was, Tony was able to find his way back to the park, and he waited there patiently for the witch lady to show up again. He had no doubt that she was responsible for his current state, since otherwise it would be far too great of a coincidence. 

The park remained empty, and Tony got very hungry. He left to beg for food from some tourists, and someone was kind enough to toss him half a hotdog. It wasn’t even close to the kind of food he was used to, but when he gobbled it up it seemed to be the tastiest thing in the world.

Then he’d returned to the park to continue his reconnaissance. He had just woken up from a brief nap when he spotted the old woman leaving the park, and he’d rushed after her, doing his best just to keep up. She was an old lady, but apparently she was in great shape because she moved through the city with no problem. 

Then she’d gone into that hippy shop and somehow disappeared, leaving Tony with no idea of how to proceed. He missed Jarvis and Pepper and Rhodey, and even though they were so close (or at least J and Pepper were), he couldn’t talk to them at all. He wasn’t even sure how to get back to the tower from here, since he’d blindly run after the woman without paying attention to where they were going. 

And now Tony was all alone, with no idea of what he was supposed to do.

,,,

The Asset knew that he was supposed to return to base after finishing his mission, but he also knew that his handlers wouldn’t know the difference if he took an extra hour to himself. Maybe that was insubordination, but no one had ever told him that he wasn’t allowed to do that. And the Asset enjoyed seeing bits and pieces of the world before he had to inevitably return to cryo.

As he walked down the street, dressed in a way that hid his arm so that he would easily blend in with the eight million other people in the city, he heard a soft yelp. The Asset looked down, and realized that he’d just accidentally stepped on a scruffy looking tail that had been sticking out from the entrance of an alleyway. 

He took a step into the alley so that he wouldn’t clog up the foot traffic, and then crouched down to look at the creature he’d disturbed. It was clearly a grown cat, though on the small side, with big brown eyes. The cat looked like the quintessential pet, until it stood up to glower at him, revealing a mess of scars over its chest. 

The Asset didn’t recall anything from his programming that would be relevant, but he felt something odd in his own chest when he looked at the scrappy little cat. Without thinking, he reached out with his metal arm, and when the cat swiped at him, there was no harm done. Not that much effort had gone into the attack anyways. 

The poor thing looked to be skin and bones, and even though the Asset knew he shouldn’t even care, he found himself giving the cat a firm look. “I will assist you,” he said solemnly. “You are in need of rations, kotenok. I will assist.” The cat gave him a long look that seemed far too human for an animal (not that the Asset was anything like an expert on what it meant to look human). Then the cat gave a small nod, and climbed right onto the Asset’s open hand. 

Even with the dull sensors in his arm, the Asset could tell that the cat weighed very little. He was sure that he would be able to figure out some way to make this pertain to his mission, but just in case, he would get the cat some food before returning to base. 

The Asset wasn’t sure where the nearest pet store was, so he went to a food stand instead. He had no money on him, since it wasn’t his job to worry about such things, but he was an expert at strategizing, so he would figure something out. 

While he considered every angle, the cat suddenly leapt out of his hand before he could grab it back. The Asset watched as the cat ran over to the stand and then dropped to its belly and posed for the people in line. With its chest concealed, the people all cooed and pulled out their phones to take pictures. 

It was an adequate distraction, and the Asset was able to grab a couple of hotdogs while everyone looked at the cat. He took several steps away from the stand, and then waited for the cat to trot back over to him. “Good plan, soldat.” The cat seemed almost smug as the Asset picked the cat up and carried him to a small area with metal tables in front of a big building. He sat down, and then put one of the stolen goods on the table while he decided to keep the other for himself. 

The cat leapt out of his hand again, landing gracefully on the table. It began to quickly devour the food, and the Asset only took a couple of bites out of his own before setting that down for the cat as well. Once the cat had finished eating, the Asset figured it would run off. Instead, it stepped onto his arm, stretched out, and licked the Asset’s hand a couple of times before closing its eyes. 

The Asset just stared at the cat, unsure of what kind of reaction he was supposed to have. Perhaps the most confusing part was that the cat seemed to enjoy his metal arm so much, even though it had to be chilly and much too hard a surface to rest comfortably on, even through his jacket sleeve. The cat didn’t seem to mind at all, though. 

Well, the Asset really needed to return to base sooner rather than later. He would probably be punished enough as it was, since it had been over an hour since he’d completed his mission and then given himself the new mission of feeding the cat. 

He thought about just shaking his arm, since he knew that he could easily fling the little animal away, but the snoozing cat let out a few soft purrs, and then rolled onto its side, showing off the scarred chest again. The Asset couldn’t hurt the poor thing when it had clearly already been through so much. But what could he do? He was pretty sure that his handlers would not be willing to take care of the cat while the Asset slept. 

As he debated with himself about what he should do, the Asset suddenly froze when he realized that he could feel eyes on him. The Asset reached up to pet the cat with his flesh hand so that he could subtly look around and figure out who was staring. Had he done something to stand out, or something suspicious? 

There, across the street, was an old woman. The Asset knew better than to ever judge anyone by their outer appearance, though, and even from this distance the Asset could see the sharp gleam in her eyes that gave away how dangerous she was. It didn’t matter who she was, or what she might want with him. This was a crowded place and there would be many civilian casualties if a fight were to break out. Not to mention that the cat… 

So the Asset did the logical thing, and made his escape. Between being fast on his feet and being able to expertly pick out all of the best routes, he was able to get away, and when he looked around, he could no longer spot anyone surveilling him. Still, this did mean that it was definitely time to return to base. His handlers would be very displeased to know that someone had been looking at him, because he would have to mention that in his mission report.

He glanced down to make sure that the cat was okay, but to his alarm, it was nowhere in sight. The weak sensors on his arm hadn’t noticed the slight weight leaving, and he had no idea when he had lost his passenger. But there was no time to go searching for it. 

The Asset whispered a quiet apology for the cat, and then continued back to base, already preparing for the punishment that awaited him there.

,,,

Tony had grown up hearing all the Captain America stories that there were, and had seen plenty of photos of the Howling Commandos. So of course he recognized Bucky Barnes, even with stubble and long lanky hair. At first, he thought that maybe his cat eyes were just seeing things wrong, so he’d decided to stick with the man until he could figure out what the hell was going on.

He hadn’t expected the man to suddenly take off running when the two of them had just been having such good bonding time, and he hadn’t been able to get a good grip in before he’d been flying through the air and slamming into the hard ground. 

Tony wasn’t sure if he was more disappointed about losing track of the man who looked identical to Bucky Barnes, or that he hadn’t been able to get a look at what had to be a prosthetic arm under Barnes’ clothes. 

As he lay on the ground, still dazed from being inadvertently tossed around, he heard footsteps walking right up to him. He glanced up, and scowled at the sight of the witch who had cursed him. She crouched down next to him, an odd smile on her face. “Oh, you are still so pathetic. But we’re hardly done yet. The crumbs have been spread, now it’s just time to make sure that your soldier follows the trail.” Then she grabbed at Tony before he could react to run away. Not that faster reflexes would have been very helpful, though, because even with some food in his belly, he was still exhausted and sore. 

The witch made sure to hold onto him securely so that he had no chance of slipping free from her, and Tony resigned himself to whatever sick and twisted fate this lady had in mind for him. He wanted to ask what she had against him, but even if she was likely to answer, which he doubted, he couldn’t say anything at all.

,,,

Tony didn’t remember falling asleep, but he must have, because there was no other explanation for the fact that he was currently waking up. He blinked a few times, and let out a loud yawn. As he reached up to stretch, he realized some crucial information- those were normal, human arms stretching up. 

He leapt to his feet and looked down at himself. There was no doubt that he was human again. Had it all just been some bizarre dream? That would explain why Bucky Barnes had been there. But no- if that had been a dream, then it would have to be one that hadn’t ended yet, because he was not in his room in the tower- or any of the rooms in the tower.

He was in what basically looked like a nice hotel room, only it had no windows in it. There was nothing that had been tying him down, and he was wearing one of his own band t-shirts and jeans, the ones he’d been wearing the day before he’d been turned into a cat, if he remembered correctly (and he almost always did).

Tony wasn’t wearing any shoes, but that was the least weird thing about this situation. Unfortunately, he wasn’t wearing his watch, so he didn’t know exactly how long he’d been missing at this point (wandering around the city half-starving and cold had made it easy to lose track of time). His watch also would have let him contact Jarvis to coordinate a rescue. Had his captor known that when they’d taken it from him? Oh, who was he kidding with saying ‘his captor’ when he knew damn well that it had to have been the witch. He highly doubted that some random good Samaritans would have been able to turn him back into a human. 

Tony had never been the type to sit around and wait for help. He walked over to the door and decided that he might as well try it. To his surprise, the door easily opened for him, and then he hesitated in the doorway. Was there some kind of trap to make sure he couldn’t escape? What was going on?

He braced himself for whatever might come next, and then headed out into the hallway. It was immediately obvious that the room he’d woken up in was the only nice room in the place. The rest of the building looked like it was a good breeze away from collapsing, and when he peered into the rooms he passed, all of them looked old and decrepit and full of thick layers of dust. Maybe one of those rooms would have something useful inside, but he’d hold off on any thorough investigations. His breathing was already tough enough with the arc reactor, he didn’t need dust in his lungs too. 

There were no windows anywhere in the building that he could find, but he was sure that an elbow to the wall would be enough to make his own windows, with how run down the place looked. Tony put that option on hold while he continued exploring, and eventually found a very questionable looking set of stairs. 

He carefully made his way down, keeping his feet as close to the wall as possible to try and prevent the rotten looking wooden boards from collapsing right out from beneath him. When he finally reached the bottom, Tony couldn’t help but let out a small sigh of relief.

There didn’t seem to be any windows on the first floor either, and Tony was finding the place stranger and stranger by the minute. It clearly looked like an old building, like the kind built before electricity, but what kind of old buildings wouldn’t have any windows? 

There was no time to think about that, though. Tony spotted a set of double doors that looked like they would hopefully lead outside, and he rushed toward them. He grabbed one of the handles, and then there was suddenly a hand grabbing onto his wrist, skeletal fingers digging into his skin with far more strength than they should have. 

Tony turned to look at the witch, who just stared back at him with piercing eyes. “You don’t want to go out there,” she said in a voice that almost made her sound reasonable.

Tony narrowed his eyes. “Lady, you do not want to mess with me. I am-”

“Yes, yes, the great and powerful Tony Stark. I know. You think I’d have taken you by accident? Now, if you’re really the genius that you always claim to be, you’d listen to me when I saw that you don’t want to go out there.”

And Tony was a genius, and also someone who hated not having all the information in any given situation. He yanked his hand free from the witch, and took a small step back from the door, crossing his arms over his chest to make sure she understood the level of his ire. “And why, exactly, don’t I want to go out there?”

The witch grinned, revealing perfect pearly whites that looked like they belonged in a toothpaste commercial. “I hadn’t originally planned on this particular effect, but apparently leaving you out on your own to survive wasn’t going to end well. So I’ve changed the parameters.”

“The parameters of what?”

The witch laughed. “Surely it didn’t escape your attention that you were running around as a feline for the past two weeks? And if it hadn’t been for the kindness of that soldier, you’d probably be dead in a few more days.”

Tony tried to school his expression, but he was pretty sure that he was failing. He’d been gone for two weeks? Pepper and Rhodey must be out of their minds with worry. The rest of the world probably thought that he was just off on a bender on some tropical island somewhere. “You know, the solution would be to just let me go home, if you don’t want my death on your conscious.” 

The lady shook her head. “No, no, that would defeat the purpose. But I suppose it wouldn’t be fair of me to not explain the rules. So here’s how it works: Anytime you leave this house, you will automatically change into a cat. You can only change back when you return to this house. But if you stay away long enough for two sunsets to fall over this building, you will be stuck as a cat forever.” 

She looked quite proud of herself as she gave her explanation, but Tony could only stare at her. If he didn’t have such vivid memories of running around as a cat, he’d probably call her insane. As it was, though, he was pretty sure that it would make the most sense to believe her about this. 

But Tony wouldn’t be Tony if he just took other people at their words and didn’t even try to run his own experiments. He pushed past her, ignoring the fact that her freaky amount of strength could easily stop him if she wanted to, and as soon as he shoved the door open and stepped outside, he could feel a strange tingling across his entire body, and then he was back to being very short and unable to communicate much. He stepped back in through the still open door and felt the tingle again, and then he was back to being human, complete with clothes and everything.

He looked at the witch in disbelief. “What could you possibly get out of doing this?”

That smug look on her face didn’t go away. “I’ll agree to lift the curse when certain conditions have been met.”

The look of disbelief only grew. “You are joking, aren’t you? Please tell me you’re joking. What’s with all of the vague bullshit instead of just telling me what you want from me?”

The witch shrugged one shoulder. “Those are my terms. I will return every week to see if your answer changes.” Then she strolled away without another word, leaving Tony to stand there and wonder how the hell this was his life now. He silently reached up to gently tap against his arc reactor. He’d survived three months in a cave with a box of scraps. Surely he could make it through whatever the hell this was.

,,,

The Asset knew that he needed to return to base to report the success of the mission. His handlers had warned him that last time he had deviated, and been appropriately punished for it. The Asset could not remember why he had disobeyed the programming, but he could remember the pain of his punishment, and knew that he didn’t want to go through anything like that again. 

But there was something keeping him from returning to his handlers and allowing himself to be put back in cryo. He had the strange feeling that he was looking for something, even though he had no idea what that something might be. He spent hours searching for… something, and then he admitted to himself that it was time to just give up and return to base to accept whatever punishment was awaiting him for this delay. 

As the Asset quickly made his way back to base, he was brought to a halt when a little cat suddenly leapt out at him. He had no idea how, but the Asset just knew that this was what he’d been looking for. And from the way the cat kept walking in insistent circles around his legs, the Asset could only assume that the cat had somehow been looking for him too.

The Asset wasn’t sure why the cat mattered, but he knew that it did. He crouched down to scoop the animal up, but just before he could grab it, it darted off. The Asset stared off in the direction the cat had gone, and even though he knew that the programming should keep him from feeling anything, he couldn’t help the wave of disappointment that washed over him. Why had he been so stupidly sure that he would find answers from a cat of all things? And what did he even need answers about? It wasn’t his job to ask questions.

Then he saw the cat out of the corner of his eye, and focused on the end of the street. The cat was peering around the bend at him, waiting patiently. Was it trying to lead him somewhere? The Asset’s head hurt at the thought of further disobeying his orders, but he had to know what was going on. So he followed, and tried to ignore the strange feeling in his chest that he thought might be ‘hope’. 

,,, 

It took a while for Tony to lead Barnes (or the Barnes lookalike, anyways) back to the witch’s house, but it was worth it. He wasn’t sure if anyone else would have followed him for so long, and through so much unfamiliar terrain. He wasn’t sure if anyone else would even want to follow him, considering what he looked like in this form. 

As soon as they walked through the front door, Tony shifted back into his human self, and then he turned to give Barnes a big grin. “This is perfect! Do you know how long I was running around the city, just hoping that I would actually have enough luck to run into anyone I knew? I mean, I tried to get back to the tower, believe me I did, but as a cat it would take way too long to reach it, and there’s no way I was going to risk being gone from here for more than twenty-four hours, since I happen to like being human. Anyway, please tell me that you have a phone on you. I already know that they don’t work inside here, because I have stooped low enough to steal one or two, but if I give you a number to call and a proper script, you can make the call and then Pepper will come and figure out how to solve all of this. And that witch is going to be shaking in her boots, because there is nothing scarier than an angry Pepper Potts, which she’s bound to be, considering that it’s been-”

Tony was cut off in his rambling when Barnes raised one arm in a clear gesture for Tony to stop talking. “What is going on?” he demanded.

Tony blinked a couple of times, and then it occurred to him that even though the idea of a magical curse that could turn people into cats was commonplace for him considering he’d been living with that reality for over six months now, it would still seem very strange to someone who was thrust into it with no warning. “Ah, right. So you might think I’m crazy, though hopefully seeing me turn from a cat into a human was enough to convince you otherwise, but the truth is that I was cursed by a witch and even though I technically have free roam, I can’t leave this place for longer than twenty-four hours without being stuck as a cat forever, and I am always turned into a cat when I leave this place.” He’d gone through many different trials to find out for sure, including wrapping himself in a sheet, tossing a tarp down on the ground before stepping out, sticking out only a single arm or leg, trying to build extensions of the house, and a million other things.

Barnes just continued to stare at Tony in confusion, though. Which was weird, because Tony thought he’d just done a pretty good job of summing up the problem. “Why would you want my help?”

There was something strange in Barnes’ tone, but Tony had never been the best as understanding people even when he was around them all the time, so after spending half a year only being able to look up at them, he’d probably lost his ability entirely. “Well, you’re probably the only person crazy enough to follow a random cat around, right? And you’re a familiar face, so there’s that.” He shrugged one shoulder, and then realized that they’d never actually discussed the fact that the guy was a dead ringer for someone who was supposed to be dead going on seventy years now. 

Barnes narrowed his eyes. “You know me?” he demanded, stomping closer to Tony so that it would be clear just how much he towered over the genius.

Tony refused to be intimidated. Was there even anything intimidating left in the world after being forced to explore it as a cat? He wasn’t sure, but he didn’t think so. He crossed his arms over his chest, and tipped his head back to stare up at Barnes stubbornly. “Look, I’m happy to help you with any answers you need to get, but not if you ask in that kind of voice.”

There was a long pause, and then Barnes clenched his throat, and glanced away from Tony. “How do you know me?”

Tony refrained from grinning and saying something along the lines of ‘so he can be taught’. He needed Barnes’ help, so being petty wasn’t exactly going to be useful. “Uh, so I know we’ve never officially met, but I’ve grown up hearing stories about you, that’s all. Oh, I heard the stories from my dad Howard and my aunt Peggy.” The strangest thing was that there wasn’t even the faintest hint of recognition on Barnes’ face at the mention of Howard and Peggy. “Oh, uh, maybe you really are just someone with a lot of physical similarities afterall. I mean it wouldn’t make any sense for you to be a dead World War II soldier anyways, would it?”

Barnes somehow managed to move even closer to Tony, despite the fact that there had already been basically no space between them, but Tony refused to give in and step away. “What soldier? What stories? Who am I?”

Tony didn’t know what was going on, but he did wish that he could grab a sample of Barnes’ hair and run it through some DNA tests, but unfortunately a DNA tester wasn’t exactly the kind of thing a cat could grab and drag back to the house. “Well, I could be wrong, but I’ll admit that being turned into a cat has certainly opened my mind to certain possibilities. If I’m right about you, then your name is James Buchanan Barnes, sergeant in the United States Military circa 1940s. Best friend was Steve Rogers, aka Captain America. You fought against nazis… is any of this ringing a bell?”

Barnes shook his head, though there was something almost desperate in his eyes, like he really wanted to know what the hell Tony was talking about. “I don’t know any of that. How do I know that you’re not lying to me?”

“I guess you don’t. I mean, I don’t have any reason to lie about something like this, but you don’t know me, so I understand why you might not believe me. Hell, even the people who do know me probably don’t believe me half the time. I’m just not a very trustworthy looking person.” Clearly there was something very bizarre going on, but it’s not like Tony could do anything to help while he was stuck in this gross, old, low-tech building. “I don’t think you answered my question earlier, though that’s probably more my fault for going on and on like that. Do you have a phone on you?” Barnes shook his head, and Tony shrugged. “That’s alright. Payphones may not be a sign of the future, but they still work. If I write down a number and a message, could you make that call? Please? If you do, then I’ll hopefully be in a much better position to be able to help you.”

There was another long pause (and Tony didn’t remember any of the stories calling Barnes the strong and silent type, but clearly there was something else going on, and Tony was determined to figure it out, as soon as he could), and then Barnes nodded once. “I’ll help.” 

Tony grinned. “Great! Just wait right there while I go grab a piece of paper!” He rushed to find a random scrap and a pen, and then carefully wrote down everything so that it would be legible enough, then he returned to the front door, where Barnes was still waiting. “You seriously don’t know how much this means to me. And once I’m all sorted, we can work on you next, I promise.”

,,,

The Asset tried to ignore the strange feelings whirling around inside of him. He wasn’t sure whether they were caused by the strange events of the cat that turned into a man, or at the name he’d been given- James Buchanan Barnes. Nothing about that name sounded familiar, and yet… why would the cat man have been so certain he recognized him if that wasn’t his name?

Well, to get answers the Asset needed to make a phone call. That seemed like an easy enough thing to do, even if the message he’d been given did seem a little bit on the long side. The Asset didn’t recognize his surroundings, but he’d always been good at adapting. He didn’t have any money for a payphone, which meant he’d just need to borrow someone else’s phone. Which meant he’d need to get closer to where people were.

But once he found his way back to one of the busier streets of the city, he spotted one of his handlers leaning up against a building, and the Asset just knew that he would not be able to complete the mission he’d been given. Running away now would only make the punishment worse. 

The Asset started towards his handler with a foreign sense of resignation. When he got the chance to duck into a small crowd of people, he dropped the paper with his mission on it. He knew that his handlers would not want to see such a thing, and for some reason, the Asset felt like he needed to protect the strange man who had been so excited to see him. 

,,,

Tony felt bad stealing a phone from an old lady, but what else was he supposed to do? Most young people had smartphones, and he couldn’t think of any real way to operate one of those with his current situation. But he had a plan for what he was going to do with the flip phone. 

He brought it back to the witch’s house, very careful not to let his little fangs break the plastic, and then brought it inside with him and put it on the floor before turning human. He flipped it open, and then grabbed the long stick he’d put inside earlier just for this purpose. 

Tony pushed the phone outside of the house with the stick so that he wouldn’t be putting any of himself past the doorway, and then he leaned forward and used the stick to hit the buttons to dial Pepper’s number. Now he was glad that she’d made him memorize it, even if at the time it had made him feel like a small child. 

It took more effort than he would have expected to poke the right buttons without shoving the phone out of reach, but he managed, and then hit the speaker button as well, so that he could actually hear. There was a ringing noise, and then beautifully familiar voice that made Tony want to weep. “Pepper Potts-”

“Pep, it’s me! It’s Tony! Oh, Pepper, oh, I never thought I’d hear your voice again-” 

“-and I can’t take your call at the moment, so please leave your name and phone number and I will get back to you. If this is a general matter relating to Stark Industries, please call the main office line. Thank you.”

And then there were tears rolling down Tony’s cheeks, but he wasn’t going to give up now. He waited for the beep that indicated it was time to leave a message, and rushed to get the words out. “Pep, it’s me, Tony. I can’t tell you exactly where I am right now because there’s no landmarks or streets around here, but I’m just a little ways outside of the main city. I don’t know if I’ll be able to answer if you try to call back at this number, so I’m going to beg you to please, if you get this message, in one week go to a building for Foyger, Rowlinham, and Tench. They’ve got a hotdog cart out front, and there will be a black cat with a scarred chest waiting for you there in the morning. Please, Pepper, follow that cat. I know it probably sounds crazy, but please just-” then there was another beep to let him know he’d run out of time. He could try calling and leaving another message, but he didn’t think he’d be able to add any new information, and having to hear her voicemail again would just hurt. 

Tony used the stick to pull the phone back into the house, and then slipped it into his pocket. He had no way of charging the thing, and he wouldn’t know if Pepper called while he was in the house anyways, since the phone wouldn’t work inside, and answering as a cat wouldn’t accomplish anything, but he still felt better for at least having the device on him. Now all he could do was wait, and hope beyond hope that Pepper would show up. 

,,,

The Asset was woken up, and given the usual couple of hours to stretch and train and shake off the remnants of sleep and cold (even though neither of those ever seemed to truly go away). Then his handler gave him a folder full of documents. “This mission is going to be a bit different than the ones you are used to. That is your target, but this is not a kill mission. This man has been missing for the past two years. He was last seen in his place of residence before he disappeared, and the security tapes were messed with so there is no indication of what happened to him, and about a ten hour period in which he may have been taken. He is a high profile target, but he has been off the radar for long enough at this point that you should have some leeway. Any questions?” The Asset silently shook his head, and the handler nodded. “Good. You are being allotted four months for this mission, and you are to check in every two weeks with a progress report.”

As the Asset left the base, he couldn’t help staring at the photograph he had been given in the folder. Anthony Edward Stark, billionaire and genius. Presumed dead because in his previous longest kidnapping, he had been gone three months before figuring out a way to escape. Now it had been two years, and there was no sign of him.   
None of that was particularly noteworthy. If his handlers believed Stark was alive and out there, then it was the Asset’s job to search for him, and that was that. But the strangest thing was that the Asset had the bizarre feeling that he already knew where to look.

,,,  
It was Saturday, which was always Tony’s favorite day of the week. Saturdays were when Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy all came to visit him at the witch’s house, where they could spend the entire day talking and catching up and trying desperately not to think about the fact that none of them had any idea how they could ever rescue Tony from this place without dooming him to be stuck as a cat forever. 

There was a knock at the door, and Tony grinned to himself as he abandoned his latest project and rushed to answer. If his friends wanted to show up a few hours early, he was definitely not going to complain about that. He threw the door open, but faltered when he saw just one person standing out there.

Tony recognized the visitor instantly, and he crossed his arms over his chest to give the man a clearly unwelcome vibe. “Never expected to see you again. Not after you ditched me and left me hanging when you said that you were going to make that call for me. It took months for me to figure out how to do it on my own.”

There was no guilt on Barnes’ face, or even any real understanding at all, and Tony decided to graciously recall the fact that he knew something strange had been going on with the man even when they’d met previously. Still, that didn’t take away the trouble Tony had gone through to get done what Barnes could have easily done for him in a single afternoon. 

But there was something about Barnes that made him look about as pathetic as Tony’s witch was always calling him, so he let out a reluctant sigh, and took a step back. “Alright, you can come in. I do have a few odds and ends around the place, and more than enough groceries. What’s your poison?”

There was a brief pause before Barnes answered. “I prefer to use cyaline selphate because it is virtually undetectable after approximately one day in the bloodstream.”

Tony didn’t pause in his steps, though he did blink a couple of times and glance back over his shoulder as Barnes followed him towards the kitchen. “I’m hoping that you just misinterpreted me, and don’t actually like to drink poison?” When there was no response, Tony just let out an awkward chuckle. “Alright, well I’ll just get you some gatorade.” Then he took a longer look at Barnes’ arms- for purely scientific reasons, of course. “Er, on second thought, it might just be safest to do water for both of us. And then you can explain to me why you never called Pepper after you said you would, and maybe if you’re feeling generous you can let me have a look at your arm?”

He grabbed two water bottles from the fridge and then led Barnes to the room he had taken over as his ‘lab’. He motioned to the only chair in the room that looked strong enough to hold everything Barnes had, and Barnes sat without any protest. Tony tossed him the water, which was easily caught, and then he grabbed his spinny chair, which he pulled over and plopped down in. He tilted his head. “So?”

For a moment, it seemed like Barnes wasn’t going to answer, as he popped open the water bottle and crushed the thin plastic in his hand as he gulped down all of the water at once. Tony wasn’t exactly unimpressed by the display. “Why would you call a pepper?” was the first thing out of Barnes’ mouth.

Tony blinked once, and then let out a loud snort. “Oh, please say that to her face, I’m begging you.” But it was obvious that Barnes wasn’t joking around, so Tony tried to settle himself down. “Okay, so clearly it’s been a while, and you don’t have the same impeccable memory as me. So, uh, what’s the last thing you do remember?”

The pause this time stretched out for so long that it definitely bordered on awkward, and then Barnes reached into one of the inside pockets of his jacket and pulled out a rolled up folder, which he held out towards Tony. Tony cautiously took it, and tried to flatten it out before opening it. Just from the first page he could see that for some reason, the folder was all about him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was only supposed to be a two parter but the story got away from me xD

The Asset didn’t know why he was breaking so many rules. He should have grabbed the target and made a run for it as soon as the front door had been opened. But something in him had cried out at the thought of hurting the man, though the Asset had no idea why. 

He tried to convince himself that he was only lulling the target into a false sense of security so that it would be easier to capture him, but that was honestly just a blatant lie, considering that the Asset was more than strong enough to take the other man without a struggle. 

But then, to actually hand over the mission brief? The documents that should have been left at base or destroyed as soon as the Asset had learned everything that he needed to from them. Something told him that the target wasn’t a threat, but that was stupid, considering he’d made a living building weapons and was also someone his handlers wanted. They had no use for a weak man. 

He watched the target’s face flicker through various emotions faster than the Asset could identify them, and then the target set the folder down on his lap. He gave the Asset a long look, and the Asset waited for the many questions that were sure to come, even though he knew that he would be unable to answer most of them. When there was only silence, the Asset took a moment to assess the target’s face. There was no fear there, which seemed surprising given the circumstances.

Then the target suddenly stood up, and dropped the folder down onto the nearest flat surface. “Let’s go for a walk. I’m in the mood for fresh air.” He grabbed a scrap of paper from the messy looking table in the center of the room and scribbled something on it, then stuck a piece of tape across the top. “Here, put this on the door when we leave.”

The Asset took the paper and glanced at it. All it said was ‘need some air, be back soon -TS’. He followed the target back to the front door, and then watched with wide eyes as the man stepped outside and seemed to disappear, leaving nothing in his wake but a scarred little cat. The Asset dutifully taped the note to the front of the door, and then found himself following the cat down the dirt path that would eventually lead back to a real road. 

Maybe it was insane for him to be following a cat, or a shapeshifter, or whatever the target was, but something in the Asset’s gut told him that it was okay to just follow. 

They walked in silence, and after a while the cat abruptly took a turn, and the Asset continued along with it. They didn’t seem to be going anywhere in particular. When they eventually returned to the house, there was a car parked in front of it, and three people hopped out when they spotted the returning walkers. 

A tall man in a military type of uniform gave the Asset a narrow eyed look. “Who the hell are you?” 

The cat let out a small noise that almost seemed like annoyance, and then sashayed up the few steps and into the house. He immediately turned back into the human that was supposed to be the Asset’s target, and he looked out at the three that had emerged from the car. “Honeybear, it’s fine. He isn’t a threat. I don’t think. Come on, everyone get inside.”

The Asset was aware of the three strangers all staring at him, and he made sure to keep careful track of their movements in case any of them decided to suddenly attack him in an attempt to protect the target, who was clearly an associate of theirs. 

They all went up a set of stairs and into a nice looking bedroom that seemed out of place in the rest of the house. The Asset wasn’t an interior decorator, but even he could see that most of the house was just horrid. Everyone found a place to sit down, but the Asset remained standing by the doorway so that he could keep an eye on the others in the room. 

The redheaded woman kept glancing at the Asset, and then back at the target. “Tony, who is that?”

The target- Tony- shrugged one shoulder. “Uh, it’s complicated. Either he’s one of the best impersonators I’ve ever met, or he’s a one hundred year old dead guy with a bad case of the amnesias.” The Asset could see the confusion on the faces of the visitors, and apparently Tony could as well. “I’m pretty sure that that’s Bucky Barnes.”

There was a long pause, and then the military man spoke up in a cautious voice. “Are you serious, Tony? You think that that’s Bucky Barnes? Sidekick to Captain America? The guy who fell to his death during World War II?” When Tony just nodded, the other man sighed. “Well, he’s certainly looking good for his age, I’ll give him that.” 

The chubbier man cleared his throat. “I hate to be ‘that guy’, but if that is somehow actually Bucky Barnes, then what the hell is he doing here?”

Tony frowned. “Well I did lead him here myself, the first time anyways. Back in the beginning of this stupid curse, when I was just running around the city hoping that I’d actually get lucky enough to see someone familiar, and then bam! James Buchanan Barnes stepping on my tail. He followed me back here, and I asked him to call Pepper, but clearly he never did, since Pepper didn’t hear anything from me until I managed to get a message through myself.” 

There was a long moment of silence that the Asset might even go so far as to classify as awkward, and then the redhead spoke again. “So he disappeared instead of calling me, and then shows up again a year and a half later? Something about that doesn’t add up.”

Tony shrugged again. “Hey, I may be a genius but I can’t think of everything.”

“Oh, speaking of thinking, we grabbed you those textbooks you asked for,” the military man suddenly spoke up. “Though I’m sure you already know everything in all of them.”

“Some light reading is good for entertainment,” Tony said. He looked directly at the Asset. “What are your thoughts? Itching for some quantum theory to spice up your day?”

The Asset wasn’t sure if that was a rhetorical question or not, so he just shook his head and remained silent. He was trying to observe the group, not get himself involved in a conversation among them. 

The redhead rolled her eyes. “Come on, Tony, be serious. We have to-”

But the Asset wasn’t going to find out what it was that they had to do, because Tony suddenly leapt to his feet, face looking very pale, and he rushed out of the room. The Asset was the closest to the door, so he was the quickest to follow, just in time to watch Tony duck into a different room, and then heard the sound of vomiting. 

He stepped into the bathroom, and saw Tony curled up over the toilet, looking ill. Tony glanced up as the Asset entered the room. “Ugh, just go ask Happy to get me a ginger ale or something.”

So he had a ‘pepper’ and a ‘happy’? What a strange man. The Asset didn’t have time to respond, though, before the military man rushed into the room and knelt down next to Tony. “Hey, what’s going on?”

There was a brief moment of hesitation, and then Tony sighed and slumped down. “I really didn’t want you guys to have to see this, but…” he lifted up his shirt high enough to show off his chest, crumpling it in his hands so that it wouldn’t cover his face. 

The Asset just stared at the strange glowing blue light in the center of Tony’s chest, with scars branching out from it on all sides. The scars matched those on the cat version of Tony, put the blue light was new. The Asset would have found it to be an almost appealing sight, if it weren’t for the sickly black color creeping through thick veins. 

The military man sucked in a sharp breath. “Tones, what happened?”

Tony laughed, though even the Asset could easily tell that Tony was not at all happy. “It would be a lot easier if I had Jarvis here to run some scans, but from the rudimentary tests that I’ve been able to run on myself, it would seem that the arc reactor is killing me. It’s just not stable in a human body, and I don’t know if I’ll ever get the chance to figure out how the hell to fix it. Even if you drove me to my lab right this second, I don’t have the arc reactor as a cat, and I don’t seem to have the sickness as a cat either.”

There was a moment of silence, and then the military man suddenly pulled Tony into a tight hug. “Why didn’t you say anything?” 

“You guys already have so much to worry about when it comes to me. I didn’t want to add to the stack.”

“And you didn’t think we’d be worried if we showed up one day and found your body?”

The Asset unintentionally let out a growl at the thought of Tony’s death, which made no sense considering that he hardly even knew the man, and was supposed to be bringing him back to his handlers. Tony looked up at the Asset, and then shakily got to his feet, his friend supporting him as he stood. “I don’t think that there’s anything that can be done for me at this point. Even if the curse broke right this second, it might be too late to stop this. But that doesn’t mean that I’m incapable of helping anyone else. Rhodey, I want you to talk Barnes to the lab and have Jarvis run a full panel of scans. He’ll know which ones I want. Print out the results and bring them to me next week.”

Rhodey clenched his jaw. “Tones, I can’t just leave you when you’re-”

“Please,” he said softly. “Do this for me?” 

Rhodey sighed, and then leaned forward to touch his forehead against Tony’s. “I haven’t been able to say no to those damn puppy dog eyes since you were a thirteen year old shrimp getting into fights that were too big for you.”

Tony laughed. “Do they even count as puppy dog eyes anymore? Shouldn’t they be kitty cat eyes or something?”

They both laughed, though they both still seemed unhappy, and the Asset wondered if there had ever been a time when he would have been able to understand the complexities of human emotions. Then Rhodey looked at the Asset. “Are you okay with that?” 

Tony walked over to the Asset and gently put his hand on the metal arm. “It’ll be okay, I promise. Nothing scary or invasive or painful. I just need to have some idea of what we’re working with here so that I can figure out how to help you, okay? I can’t imagine how scary it must be to not be able to remember, so I want to help you.”

Maybe there was something to the ‘puppy dog eyes’ theory, because the Asset found himself unable to say no. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. When the Asset was given orders by his handlers, he was unable to say no. when he was asked to do something by Tony, he just didn’t want to say no.

,,,

Tony was lying on the roof of the house- which didn’t count as being ‘inside’ the house, but he didn’t care because he loved looking up at the stars. He also found that these days, it was usually easier to just be a cat, because at least it halted the spread of the poison, and it didn’t make him feel so much like he was dying. 

He heard a soft popping noise, and then the witch appeared next to him. No matter where he was, she was always able to find him for their weekly meetings, which were much less fun than the ones with his friends. She picked him up, and Tony didn’t bother trying to squirm away, because he already knew from experience that she would just easily find him again.

She leapt off of the roof, landing gracefully on the ground, and then walked into the house, setting Tony down on the floor as soon as they were over the threshold. Tony shifted back into his human form, and then followed the witch to the kitchen. 

He sat down at the table while she made two mugs of tea and set one down in front of him. It’s not as though Tony had stockholm syndrome or anything, but in the past two years she’d never done anything to physically harm him, or even emotionally harm him beyond the whole cat thing, and even though he didn’t even know her name, he found that she could be almost pleasant to be around when he cooperate. The ‘almost’ was because Tony didn’t think he’d ever find a kidnapper of his to be pleasant. 

Tony took a sip of his tea, and then sighed as he looked at the witch. “You going to tell me what I have to do to get rid of your curse?”

She gave him a long look, and then shook her head once. “No, I don’t think I will. I think I’ve mentioned this before once or twice or a thousand times, but if you know what you need to do, then you’d only do it for the sake of the spell, and that would defeat the whole point.” She continued to stare at Tony when he didn’t bother to respond with one of his usual quips. “You seem more tired than usual. What happened?”

“You mean besides the thing where the whole world thinks I’m dead because I’ve been stuck here for two years already?”

The witch waved her hand as though she could just brush aside what she’d put Tony through. “Yes, besides that.”

After a moment of consideration, Tony decided that he may as well just tell the truth. It’s not as if he stood to gain anything by keeping secrets from the witch. “Honestly, I’m a bit surprised that you don’t already know. I thought that you knew everything about me. But anyways, this isn’t just an emotional toll that I’m dealing with. I’ve got palladium poisoning. And if that means nothing to you, I’ll put it this way: the only thing keeping me alive right now is also killing me, and it’s spreading fast.”

The witch’s eyes widened in alarm, and something like concern, though if she was truly concerned about him she would just remove the spell and let him go. “How long…?”

“I first noticed it about three weeks ago. It doesn’t spread when I’m in cat form, so I’ve been spending a lot of time outside lately. But I’m pretty sure that I’m going to die soon.” 

The witch quickly shook her head. “I would never allow that to happen. I thought I’d already made it quite clear that I will not have you dying on me, Tony Stark. So tell me what you need in order to make a cure.”

Tony blinked a couple of times. “Well, as far as I can tell, it’s the palladium that’s the problem, and the palladium is also the only element capable of powering the arc reactor, so I’m pretty screwed regardless of whether I’ve got my lab equipment or not. And why can’t you just magic me better?”

The witch looked torn, but then she just shook her head. “Magic is a very complicated art, and it can’t be used to fix every problem that occurs. It’s not exactly an easy thing to explain, but imagine that every human being has a cup in them that contains their soul. Magic that gets used on a person goes into the cup, and mixes with the soul. All magic used on a person goes into that same cup and mixes together. And souls are very delicate things, which should only be handled with extreme caution. Throwing more magic into the cup would be like carelessly tossing chemicals together and not only hoping that there won’t be an explosion, but hoping for the intended result as well.”

Tony frowned as he tried to take that all in. He’d never heard the witch talk about magic before, and despite the circumstances, he couldn’t stop himself from being fascinated. Of course he thought that there had to be a scientific explanation for all of it, especially since the with had just used a scientific analogy, but since he didn’t understand how it worked yet, it was still fascinating. “So why don’t you just remove the spell you put on me, and then you can heal me?”

The witch shook her head again. “Your soul and the magic already put in you aren’t like salt in water, which can be separated with the right process. It’s more like baking a cake. The ingredients have already been thoroughly combined.”

Tony furrowed his eyebrows as he did his best to comprehend. “So then how can I possibly break the spell if my soul has already been ‘thoroughly combined’ with your magic?”

“When the necessary movements have been taken to break the spell, it will be like adding an additional ingredient and creating something entirely new. The new solution would be one in which you are returned to your normal state, and it will be stable, but by that point, your cup will already be full.”

Tony couldn’t keep the disappointment out of his voice. “So you’re saying that between the curse you put on me and whatever’s required to break it, you’ve already used up the full amount of magic that could potentially be used on me?”

The witch gave an apologetic shrug. “It was necessary.”

Tony abruptly got to his feet, ignoring the annoying sound of the chair scraping back against the floor. He slammed one hand down on the table angrily, though it wasn’t with nearly as much force as he wanted to be able to use. “How the hell was any of this necessary? Because it sure as hells seems to me like you decided to take my entire life from me on a whim! It’s been two years and you won’t even give me the slightest hint about how to break your stupid curse, and you haven’t given any indication of what could possibly make any of this worth it to you! I don’t understand what you could possibly get out of any of this! I know that I’ve been a terrible person and I’ve done all kinds of shitty things that I deserve to be punished for, but you won’t even tell me what I did to deserve this from you!”

Then he just stood there panting for a few seconds, having used up more energy than he could really afford to at the moment. He sank back down into his chair, because he was pretty sure that if he didn’t sit he would just pass out. The witch let him finish his rant before she reached out to gently pat the top of Tony’s hand, and he didn’t even have enough energy to pull away from her. “I’m sorry that you feel this is a punishment. It was never intended to be such. Honestly, I thought that you’d have broken the spell and been on your merry way within a couple of weeks. I never imagined that you’d still be stuck here two years later. I know that you probably won’t believe me when I say this, but if I could undo it, I would undo it right now.”

“Bullshit,” Tony weakly spat out. “You literally just said that you can’t tell me how to break the curse because it would defeat the point, or some such bullshit.”

There was a pause, and then the witch bowed her head down, looking at the table instead of at Tony. “I don’t know how you can break the spell,” she whispered. I thought that I was helping you, and that you’d figure it out on your own, or I’d figure it out, but I just… couldn’t. When a couple weeks passed and you were doing so badly on your own, I thought I was going to fix the problem, but I just made it worse instead. I’m the one who’s been pathetic all along, not you. I even made myself look like this just because I thought it would make me more impressive.” She stood up, and then the old lady visage melted away, leaving a girl who looked to be no older than fifteen or sixteen years old. “I’m so sorry.” Then she disappeared with a pop, and Tony was left to question everything that had happened in the past two years.

,,,

Once Tony was out of his sight, the Asset found himself feeling on edge and… worried? So he went along with Tony’s friends, let the faceless voice run his scans, and then he returned to Tony’s house. He knew that just being able to see with his own eyes that Tony was alright would go a long way to soothing him.

He followed his internal compass, and was able to reach Tony’s house with no issues (the car he stole was an issue for someone else to deal with, not the Asset). When he arrived, he knocked on the door, and waited patiently. It didn’t open even after several minutes passed, and the Asset wondered if he should kick the door down. On the one hand, it might annoy Tony. On the other hand, Tony had admitted to being sick and dying and could very well be unconscious or worse somewhere inside.

The Asset raised his leg and kicked the door, which burst open but surprisingly remained in one piece. With how run down the place looked, it didn’t seem like any part of the structure would be that sturdy. But there was time to admire the architecture later. For now, the Asset went inside, and quickly began searching for Tony. 

He berated himself for not being fully aware of his surroundings when he was startled by the sound of someone clearing their throat behind him. “So can I assume that I have you to thank for the front door?”

The Asset turned and saw Tony standing behind him, arms crossed over his chest. He looked even worse than he had yesterday, but he was still standing and still in one piece, so at least there was that. He wasn’t going to apologize for the door, though. There had been a strong possibility that Tony had been incapacitated. “You didn’t answer the door.”

Tony laughed, and reached up to run a hand through his already messy hair. It looked nothing like the sleek, slicked back style that Tony sported in the picture the Asset had been given, but the Asset decided that he liked the messy look. “Yeah, I was out for a bit of a jog. It may be a bit tougher to breathe when I’m a cat, but currently I feel healthier that way than I do as a human. So, uh, what are you doing back here?”

“You know who I am.”

Tony shrugged. “Or at least I think I do. Won’t really know for sure until I can see the results of your scans, though. You wouldn’t happen to have brought them since you were coming here anyways?” The Asset shook his head, and Tony didn’t look too bothered. “It’s alright, I wasn’t expecting to see them until Saturday.” There was a moment of silence, and then Tony dropped his arms and eased into a friendlier pose. “So do you wanna talk about that folder you have about me? Because I’ll admit, it is a bit creepy.”

The Asset had already broken so many rules. Would it really matter if he broke another? But when he opened his mouth to say something about his handlers, and about Tony being his target, he found that no words came out. Maybe some things were just programmed too deeply for him to go against them. “It’s unimportant,” he said instead. “All you need to know is that I have no need of it any longer.”

Tony gave the Asset a long look, and then he gave a small smile. It was a nice sight, even though the Asset knew that he shouldn’t be able to think about such things. “Alrighty then.” He clapped his hands together and then nodded once. “So I still don’t know what caused your memory loss in the first place, or how you’re still alive and identical to what you looked like in the forties, but something that I do know is that you look like a man who would deeply appreciate some ice-cream right now. I know that I, for one, am definitely in an ice-cream kind of mood.” He whirled around on his heels and headed in the direction of the kitchen. 

The Asset only hesitated for a moment before following. He knew what ice-cream was in theory, but he’d never actually tried it before, at least not that he could remember. So he decided that it was something new that he wanted to try, and the fact that it was Tony making the offer somehow only made it better.

,,,

“We’ve been hanging out for days now, and I feel weird to keep calling you by your last name. What do you want to go by? Bucky? James? Jimmy? Jim?”

Tony turned his head to look down at Barnes, who was currently lying on the floor. Tony’s bedroom was really the only place in the house where it seemed even remotely hygienic or comfortable to sleep, so Tony had insisted that Barnes sleep in his room, but Barnes had insisted that he couldn’t fit on the bed with Tony on it, so he’d settled for sleeping on the floor. Tony tried to be chivalrous by offering that they at least alternate who got the bed, but in the end, Barnes could see how much pain Tony was in from the palladium poisoning, and had all but forced Tony to take the bed. 

Barnes stared up at the ceiling for a long few seconds before answering. “Bucky doesn’t sound like a name. If I have to choose something, I pick James.”

Tony grinned. “Well then you have excellent taste, because my best friend happens to be named James.” 

His grin only grew when James looked up at him in confusion. “You said your best friend is Rhodey.”

“Yeah, James Rhodes, also known as Rhodey, Honeybear, Sunshine, light of my life, my very soul, schmoopy poo, or anything else I can think of. Mostly just Rhodey, though.” They were both silent for a minute before Tony continued. “So I don’t know if you have any interest, but I know there’s a museum in DC with a big exhibit about Captain America and the Commandos, which means that there has to be at least a little bit of info there about you. Pepper could hook you up with first class tickets, and you could head down there and-”

“No.” Tony wanted to shift fully onto his side, but that always put too much pressure on the arc reactor, so he just craned his neck to get a better look at James. It took a moment before James would elaborate. “You can’t go. But you can tell me anything that the museum could.”

Tony’s neck quickly got sore and he settled back to stare up at the ceiling as well. “Alright. But you know you don’t have to stay here with me, right? I’ve been mostly on my own for a while now, and I know how to deal.”

“Shouldn’t have to,” James said so quietly that Tony almost couldn’t hear it. “Being alone is no good.”

Well, Tony didn’t have any argument for that. He’d been basically alone all his life, and it had never done anything for him. “Maybe we can go together then, someday. Once I figure out how to break this damn curse, huh? I am a genius, you know. I should be able to break a curse, cure a disease that’s never existed before, and get us a cozy private jet to DC.”

He heard a small exhale of air, and quickly turned just in time to see the slightest semblance of a smile on James’ face. He flopped back onto the bed and grinned to himself, and pulled his blanket up to his neck. Like James had so eloquently said, being alone was no good.

,,,

The Asset had been put in charge of ‘entertaining the guests’ while Tony looked over the test results that had been brought for him. The Asset was determined to complete the mission to the fullest of his ability, even if he hadn’t been given any tools to complete it with. But that was alright. One of the Asset’s biggest strengths was the ability to think on his feet when it came to accomplishing his assigned tasks.

He wasn’t sure what exactly counted as entertainment by Tony’s standards, but the Asset was willing to get creative. He laid his strongest weapons out on the small table in the center of the bedroom, and then proceeded to take them apart, clean them, and put them back together again. Nobody clapped, but they did all keep their eyes riveted on him, which seemed like a good sign that he was being properly entertaining.

After awhile, Tony joined them in the room, and there was an odd look on his face. The Asset stood up to quickly assess the area for any danger (besides himself, of course), but Tony didn’t seem to be frightened or in a hurry, so the Asset let himself relax just the tiniest bit. 

Tony cleared his throat as he faced the room. “So. I can say with 99% certainty that James here really is James Barnes, and that he is looking excellent for a man of his age. Nothing I can point to biologically that would explain the memory loss, though biology’s never been my area of expertise. But if it is something mental, well. Who’s a better expert at being mental than me? Don’t worry, we’ll figure something out.”

Rhodey cleared his throat. “Tones, as thrilling and bizarre as it is to learn that somehow a guy who died seventy years ago is actually still alive, it doesn’t really seem to come close to the fact that you turn into a cat whenever you leave this house. And even that feels like it should hold lower priority than the fact that you’re actually dying.”

Tony reached up to tap lightly against the center of his chest, almost as a reflex more than anything. The Asset scowled at the reminder of Tony’s condition. For a moment, he thought to wonder why he even cared so much, and hadn’t just snatched up his target and dragged him back to his handlers. But then the moment passed, and the Asset knew that he would do just about anything to keep Tony safe. If he wasn’t going to follow the mission that he’d been assigned, then it only made sense that he would take to a new mission.

,,,

“It’s been six weeks since we sent the Soldier out there, and he hasn’t checked in even once.”

The man in the uniform scowled, and leaned forward in his seat to give the handler a long look. “Have we lost it? Did we send it on a mission that even it could not get out of alive?”

The handler shook his head, looking frightened. “So sir. According to the info from his implant, his vitals are all still active and he’s in healthy condition. The programming wouldn’t allow for him to be captured without fighting to the death, but other than being captured I can’t think of any reason that he wouldn’t have checked in when he was supposed to.”

The man rolled his eyes. “Is that what you’re being paid for? To think? Because if it is, then I can’t help but think that I’ve been wasting my money.” 

The handler shook his head almost violently. “No sir, I just- no sir. What are your orders?”

There was a long moment of silence, with the man content to let the handler stew in his own fear for a minute before he finally gave an answer. “Activate the tracker. Look at it’s entire log of movements. Once you’ve figured out where it is, send a small unit to retrieve it. If it puts up any resistance, then authorize the unit to use lethal force. The Soldier may have been a useful asset for many years, but we have no use for anything that can’t follow orders.” The handler gulped, and the man slammed his hand down on his desk. “Do I make myself clear?”

“Ye- yes sir.” Then he brought one hand up to his head. “Hail Hydra,” and scurried away. 

The man opened a new window on the computer in front of him, and began entering commands that were far above the paygrade of any simple handler. It took barely a minute to activate the tracker in the Soldier, and less time than that to see that the tracker was not functioning. He tilted his head as he stared at the strange results, and then leaned back in his seat. “Hail Hydra indeed,” he muttered to the empty room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, it's pretty clear that no electronics work in the house, but there is still electricity, so lights and a functioning fridge. Try not to question it too much xD


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There was only going to be one more chapter but it started getting long so I thought I'd break it up.

Tony tried to pretend like the look on James’ face wasn’t nearly as judgmental as it actually was. “Hey, in my defense I was only like fifteen.” The look on James’ face made it pretty clear that he didn’t think that that was much of a defense at all. Tony rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. “Alright, enough about me. Have you remembered anything? Because I would love to hear any story that would finally prove to my dad that Steve Rogers was not always a perfect guy.”

James furrowed his eyebrows and seemed to be intensely concentrating, just like he always did when Steve Rogers’ name came up. Then he looked at Tony with disappointment clear in his eyes. “No, I don’t remember.” There was a moment of awkward silence before he spoke again. “Do you want me to remember?”

Tony blinked a couple of times at the unexpected question, and then shrugged one shoulder. “I want whatever’s best for you James, and I’m sure that you know better than me what that is. So if you don’t want to focus on remembering the past, then that’s fine. But, uh… if you do want to talk about your more recent history, then you can. If you want to.” He was very curious to know how James had ended up on Tony’s doorstep, but he wasn’t going to push for answers from the man. 

“The folder,” James grunted. “It was given to me by my handlers.” He looked away, then, and Tony didn’t try to force eye contact. “They wanted you brought to them alive, but that’s not my usual kind of mission.” James spoke through gritted teeth, like the words physically pained him to say. 

Tony just looked calmly at James. He’d assumed that there was something going on that he wouldn’t like as soon as he’d seen a folder all about himself. But he had to wonder what kind of people were looking for him when the world at large thought that he was dead. “Who are your handlers?”

James hesitated for a moment, then shrugged his flesh shoulder. “It was not my job to know their identities.”

Tony took a moment to process that. “So let me get this straight: you were some kind of assassin for some unknown people who sent you to kidnap me, and you have no memories of your as Bucky Barnes, and also you’re here now but you clearly have not kidnapped me. Huh. Is it because I turn into a cat outside of this house? And obviously your handlers wouldn’t understand why you’d be bringing them a cat.”

James shook his head. “You are safe.” Then he abruptly stood up and stomped out of the room. Tony stared after the man, and wondered when his life had gotten insane enough that supposedly dead amnesiac assassins being sent to kidnap him didn’t even rank on the scale of things that shocked him.  
,,,

Pepper had not survived being Tony Stark’s assistant for as long as she had by being an idiot. She’d long ago learned how to spot any watching eyes, and how to quickly and quietly make sure that most of the pictures taken of Tony never saw the light of day. So even though it had been a while since she’d last spotted a photographer, or other type of stalker, she still instantly recognized the feeling of being watched. 

Rhodey was gone on assignment, even though he’d fought to have longer leave. But it’s not as though he could tell his superiors that his best friend was dying, since everyone thought that Tony Stark was already long dead. So it was just Pepper and Happy for the day. But that was alright. Pepper was more than capable of protecting herself, and she knew that Happy was too. 

She got into the back of the car, and then leaned forward to whisper in Happy’s ear. “We’re being followed.” 

Happy shot her a wry grin. “Then I suppose it’s lucky for you that you just happen to be in the presence of one of the best getaway drivers this side of Hollywood.” 

Pepper snorted before she could stop herself, but she also knew that Happy had reason to brag. With the amount of things he’d had to drive through to either get to Tony or get Tony away from somewhere, he was a pretty damn good driver. So she leaned back in her seat, buckled up, and decided to at least try and enjoy the ride, even though it was sure to be a bumpy one. Whatever was going on, whoever had been hiding outside of the building, there was no way in hell that Pepper was going to lead them to Tony. She might not be able to do much for her dear friend when it came to magic and curses, but she could at least do this.  
,,,

“There’s still no sign of the Asset,” the handler told the man in uniform, voice quavering. 

Honestly it was pathetic that this was one of the people in charge of controlling the Asset. It was a miracle that the Asset hadn't broken off and gone rogue years ago. Though that didn’t change the fact that it was bad news for the Asset to have gone rogue now.

The man leaned back in his seat and gave the handler a long, silent look. He let the silence stretch on long enough for the handler to start literally shaking in his boots before finally speaking. “So what you’re telling me is that you are incapable of handling your job? Is that what I’m hearing from you right now?”

The handler hesitated, clearly trying to figure out how to answer the question without getting yelled at. “I don’t know how he managed to disable the tracker when-”

The door to the office suddenly burst open, and both men looked over, one in relief and one in boredom. The man knew that no one would barge in without a very good reason, while the handler hoped that something had happened that would be enough to take the attention off of him for the moment.

It was one of the technicians who worked on the Asset in between missions. “Sir! The tracker went back online! It was only for a few minutes, but it was enough for us to find an exact location!”

There was a scowl growing on the man’s face. “Then why are you standing here talking to me instead of sending out a strike team? I believe I made myself very clear when I gave the orders to retrieve the Asset, dead or alive.” He didn’t raise his voice at all, just filled it with icy anger. The technician quickly nodded and turned to flee. The handler looked like he wanted to do the same, but the man just raised one eyebrow. “And where do you think you’re going?” The handler gulped as he turned to face the man again, though he kept his eyes on the ground. “As far as I’m concerned, you were of absolutely no help in tracking down the Asset, who you authorized for a mission even though the last few mission reports clearly showed that it needed to be put back in the chair.” He slowly rose to his feet, and couldn’t help enjoying the fear that washed over the handler’s face. He slowly stepped around the desk and right up to the handler to look him in the eyes. “If you value your life at all, pathetic and worthless as it is, you will not report to me with any more failures. Am I understood?”

The handler quickly nodded several times, sending his glasses sliding down to the tip of his nose. “There won’t be any more failures sir, I promise.”

“Good. Now get out of my sight. I was quite enjoying my day until I had to look at such a cowardly face.” The handler rushed off, and then the man closed and locked his office door to avoid any more interruptions. He sat back down at his desk and pulled out the burner phone that he used for personal business. He dialed a number, and was glad that the call was answered on the first ring. “Where are you?”

“Ms. Potts just left Stark Industries with her driver. I have not attempted to pursue them in vehicle.”

The man frowned as he spun in his chair to look out the two-way mirror that lined the back of his office. It served as an excellent way of keeping an eye on his underlings as they rushed through the hallway. “Unfortunately it would seem that we need to move up our timetable. Whatever was keeping the Soldier’s tracker from registering, it paused long enough for the technicians to get a readout. A strike team is on its way as we speak. If the Soldier has moved on, you have a few hours at most. If he hasn’t, you’ve got even less time than that. Things are moving quickly, and there’s still no sign of Stark.”

“A couple of hours is more than enough time; you should know me well enough to know that. Send me the coordinates, and I’ll get there much faster than any Hydra strike team could. As for Stark, I may have a lead. But the Asset is the priority here. Call me back in two hours.” Then the line went dead. 

The man slipped the phone back into the secret pocket in the lining of his jacket, and continued to stare out into the hallway at all the busy worker bees. None of them seemed even remotely bothered by the fact that they worked for an organization rooted in nazism and general assholery. But they’d figure it out soon enough, that they were on the wrong side. He was going to make sure of it.  
,,,

Tony sat in a chair by the fireplace, reading one of the many books that had been brought to him throughout his time in the witch’s house. He had a pair of reading glasses perched on his nose, though he’d made James swear to never laugh at him for it. James had looked far too intense when he made the promise, and maybe slightly confused, but it meant Tony could still feel comfortable reading. Though he certainly missed all his tablets and holograms and other various technologies that could show him whatever size and font type he wanted. For some reason printed books weren’t so user-friendly. 

He was in the middle of a fascinating chapter on the possibilities of time travel when he was interrupted by the sound of someone knocking on the front door of the house. Tony frowned as he set the book and glasses aside and stood up. It wasn’t Saturday, which meant that it wasn’t his friends visiting. 

As Tony walked towards the main door, he realized that he could see James standing just out of sight of the doorway, standing tensely in a pose that meant he was ready to fight. After a few weeks of cohabitation, he must have been just as confused as Tony by the unscheduled occurrence. To be fair, though, it wasn’t like Pepper could call in advance to tell him about changes in plans, but even so, unexpected visits didn’t seem like her style.

Tony raised one eyebrow at James, but got no response other than a tense look, so he just shrugged and approached the door. He took a deep breath, then threw it open. He found himself staring at a gorgeous redhead, but not the one that he would have expected. He didn’t recognize the woman in front of him at all, and stranger still, she looked surprised to see him too. “Who the hell are you?” 

There was a pause, and then the woman’s surprise was hidden away under the kind of mask that said she was used to hiding herself. “Tony Stark. You can call me your knight in shining armor.”  
,,,

Natasha was good at her job, and was considered by many to be the best. But somehow even she had not expected it to be Tony Stark of all people who opened the door. She’d gone to the only property anywhere near the coordinates that she’d been sent, and if she was being entirely honest (which she rarely was), she hadn’t expected to find anyone in the run down looking place. And yet here she was, staring off with a guy who had seemingly vanished off the face of the Earth two years ago.

She was definitely asking for a raise after this.

Stark continued to just stare at her, and then it occurred to her that there was no reason Stark himself would be answering the door if he had been kidnapped. So what did that mean? He’d just run off and forgot to leave a note to tell the rest of the world where he was going? 

Natasha reached out, and then she was suddenly being tackled to the ground, and she cursed herself for not being more thorough about checking her surroundings. She wrestled with the man who’d jumped her, and after a few seconds, she recognized him. The Soldier she’d been sent to find after he had dropped off the radar almost two months ago. 

Natasha had seen many strange things in her life, but even she hadn’t expected to find these two particular men in the same place. At least it was solid proof that the Soldier had indeed gone rogue, since there was no other reason for him to not have brought Stark back to Hydra already. 

“James, stop. Please.” After a moment, the Soldier actually stopped fighting Natasha, and leapt back up to his feet, staring at her with suspicious eyes. Natasha quickly got to her feet as well, and wondered if Stark had somehow overridden Hydra’s programming with his own. She hadn’t thought of him as that kind of man, but what did she really know about Tony Stark? Other than that he was still standing inside the house as he spoke, looking like he very much wanted to step out. Maybe the situation was more complicated than Natasha had given it credit for. “Hey scary lady, promise that you mean no harm, and James will keep his hands to himself.”

Natasha raised one eyebrow, and then held her hands up in a lazy surrender. “I promise.” Even though her instincts told her to keep her eyes on the Soldier, since he was clearly the most dangerous one in the immediate area, she looked past him at Stark instead. “We don’t have very long to chat, I’m afraid. There’s a Hydra strike team on the way.”

Stark’s eyes widened in shock, and then immediately narrowed. “Bullshit. Hydra’s been gone for seventy years. Don’t tell me you’ve never read any of the comics about the heroic Captain America?”

Natasha rolled her eyes. “They’re not gone. And the Soldier is one of their weapons.” Stark just looked confused, and mouthed the word ‘soldier’. Natasha frowned, and nodded towards the Soldier, who remained silent.

“Uh, no I think you must be mistaken. That’s just my good friend James. No soldiers or Hydra around here, so you can just be on your way.” 

Natasha gave Stark a thorough look over, and tried to assess how much he weighed. Probably too much for her to carry over her shoulder for too long, but she was sure she could manage to at least drag him into her car. Almost like he read her thoughts, the Soldier moved to stand more firmly in between her and Stark. “Look, clearly you are set on protecting Stark, for whatever reason. Well I’m trying to protect both of you. Hydra is going to be here soon, and if they find you here, they will take both of you in.”

“I would not allow that,” the Soldier growled. “Tony is not my target anymore.” 

Natasha blinked once as she assessed the situation. Maybe Stark hadn’t resorted to brainwashing. She thought back to the red room and the time she’d spent training with the Soldier. She wasn’t sure she could recall any times that he had used ‘I’ while talking. And his stance was more than just a defensive one. It was… protective. Of Stark. Huh. “Maybe you’d go down trying, but there’s a lot more of them than there are of you.”

There was a loud sigh from the doorway, and Natasha stepped to the side so that she could peer up at Stark. “James, without Jarvis or even a simple computer, I can’t do anything to verify or deny this information. But if it’s true- which is a huge if, I know- then you need to get out of here. We both know I’m a lost cause at this point, but if you go, find somewhere safe, my people will make sure you’re taken care of.”

The Soldier didn’t take his eyes off of Natasha for even a second as he responded. “I am staying here,” he said firmly. 

Stark bit his lip as he gave Natasha long look. She wondered if she should try to look more trustworthy, or if that would only make Stark more suspicious. It had been a while since she’d been up against a target that didn’t react how she expected them to. “Maybe we should both go then,” Stark finally said, his voice full of resignation. 

Natasha looked back and forth between the Soldier and Stark for a moment before finally settling on Stark. “Why are you so reluctant to leave? Shouldn’t you be happy to just go home? And for that matter, why have you been away for so long?”

“I thought we didn’t have time to chat,” Stark reminded her. Then he continued before she could respond to that. “Of course I want to go home. You look like you know all about my time in Afghanistan, so you must understand how much I’m willing to do just to get back home. But there’s nothing I can do this time. Sometimes there’s just- just nothing.” His shoulders slumped down, and his eyes dropped down to the ground. “If I’m away from this place for longer than a day, I don’t think that I’ll ever have the chance to go home.” Before Natasha could ask what he meant, he took a step out of the house, and she watched with wide eyes as a human man turned into a cat right in front of her.

Just when she thought she’d seen it all, huh?  
,,,

As soon as the Asset heard the word ‘Hydra’, he knew that they were the ones who held his leash, and he knew with absolute certainty that he was not going to let them get their hands on Tony, no matter what it took to stop them. And ideally he would defend Tony’s home as well, but if Tony wanted to leave, then that’s what they would do.

He quickly scooped the small cat up, and then turned to look at the redhead. Something about her was familiar, and it itched at the back of his mind, but he knew that now wasn’t the time to focus on such distractions. They just needed to get away from the potential danger. 

The woman still seemed slightly shocked (not that the Asset could really blame her, when she had just seen Tony’s transformation without any warning. It would be enough to take anyone by surprise). “Your vehicle?”

She blinked once, and then immediately went back into professional mode as she hurried away from the house. The Asset followed without a word, until they reached a car that was hidden by the tree line. They got in, and even though he didn’t want to trust a stranger with Tony’s safety, he didn’t argue when she slid into the driver’s seat. 

As they drove, the Asset gently pet Tony in the way Tony clearly enjoyed, wanting to keep the man calm and soothed despite their sudden flight. Maybe he should have taken the extra minutes to pack up some of Tony’s things, but in the end, Pepper could always bring Tony more stuff. As far as the Asset knew, there was nothing irreplaceable in the house.

The woman finally spoke, after they’d been driving for a little while. “So is this normal then? For Tony Stark to turn into a cat?”

The Asset decided not to answer. He had no reason to trust the woman, and when it came to Tony’s safety and secrets, it wasn’t the Asset’s place to share them with just anyone. She seemed to accept that, and just clenched her jaw as they continued driving. Hopefully they were headed to safety, and if not, the Asset would make sure that the woman would regret ever knocking on their door.

,,,

As they got closer to Tony and the witch’s house, after driving around the city in several complicated circles to make sure they had no one tailing them, several big black SUVs rushed past them in the same direction. Pepper exchanged a worried look with Happy. “I’m calling James,” she announced, and Happy gave a small nod of agreement. 

Tony might not be able to use phones with his little paws, but Pepper had given James a phone that could be used when he was outside of the house and it’s weird anti-technology rules. If he was inside he wouldn’t be able to answer, but she could at least leave a message to explain her concern. 

The fact that he answered immediately only made her stomach twist up with nerves. “James, where are you? There’s several cars that seem to be heading your way, and I don’t know how to describe them other than ‘villainous looking’.”

“_We are currently in the middle of using an exit strategy that was provided to us last minute. Headed to a safe location now._”

Pepper frowned. “Not too far away, I hope? Don’t forget that you can’t keep Tony out of that awful house for more than twenty-four hours.” 

There was a long moment of silence, and Pepper almost checked to make sure that she hadn’t been hung up on. “_Better to live the rest of his life as a cat than in their hands,_” he finally muttered. “_I will update you when I know more. Stay away from the house until it is cleared._” Then he hung up, and Pepper dropped her phone into her lap.

Happy gave her a sideways look. “What’s going on?”

Pepper gulped, and took a few seconds to compose herself so that her voice would come out even and strong. “You know Tony. Always a magnet for trouble. Especially on his birthday. Let’s turn around. Head to the tower so that we can be there if they need anything.”

“Sure, sure.” After finding a place to turn around, Happy hesitantly reached out to pat the top of Pepper’s hand. “It’s all going to be alright. When has the boss ever gotten himself into a mess that he could pull himself back out of again?”

When he went to pull his hand away, Pepper put her other hand on top of his, and then they drove back to the tower in silence.  
,,,

The man made sure he had his best angry face on when he heard a knock on his office door. He’d already been updated on the situation, which meant that he knew the strike team had failed in their task, and were now proceeding to hunt for the Asset. 

The agent that walked into the office after the man called out permission had a nervous look about them, which only made the man grin on the inside. Some of these people were just so easy to mess with. “Can I assume that you are not here to tell me about how you were able to go to the coordinates and retrieve the Asset to bring back with you?”

The agent clasped their hands together behind their back. “No, sir. The only building near the coordinates was empty when the team arrived. Two members stayed behind as recon in case the Asset returns to that location, while the rest have mobilized to follow the Asset’s tracks.”

The man frowned. “I suppose it was foolish of me to ever expect any amount of competence from you lot. It’s almost as though you all enjoy being yelled at. Because I can’t think of any other reason you would all so consistently fail me. If the Soldier is not in front of me by the end of the week, you and your whole team can expect pink slips. Or maybe red ones, depending on what kind of mood I’m in. Now get out of here before my entire office starts to reek of failure the same way that you do.” The agent bobbed their head up and down a few times and then hurried away. 

Once he was alone, the man sank down into his chair, feeling more than a little bit stressed. Of course he trusted his people to be able to get to the Asset first, but there had still been a large part of him full of concern about what would happen if she failed and Hydra had gotten their hands on the Soldier again. After so many years of working to get to a point where he could free the Soldier, it would have been tragic to lose all of that progress. 

The man glanced down at his watch as he noticed the activity in the hallway decreasing. He hadn’t even realized how close it was to the end of the day. He let his head fall back against the top of his chair, and for the first time in a very long time, began to doubt himself and his plan. He’d been embedded in Hydra for so long that it felt like the only thing he’d ever done, and he didn’t even know what he’d do when all of it was finally over. Of course he wanted to make sure that an end was put to Hydra, but where would that leave him? 

When Hydra did eventually crash and burn like it deserved to, he’d have no job security, that was for sure.  
,,,

The cheap motel that Natasha parked at had a strict no pets policy according to the sign on the office door, but Stark was such a small cat that he easily fit into the Soldier’s pocket, and because he was still presumably a genius, he knew he stay quiet and not move around. 

The Soldier seemed unhappy about the idea of staying in a motel for the night, but Natasha was too tired to keep driving, and even if she trusted that the Asset had Stark’s best interests at heart, she didn’t think she’d trust even her closest friends to drive somewhere while she slept. At least there were rooms available with two beds in them. Otherwise it would have gotten real awkward real fast. 

Once they were in the room and the door was closed behind them, the Soldier gently pulled Stark out of his pocket and set the cat right down on his lap to resume petting him. All those times Natasha had fought and trained with the Soldier, she never would have expected to someday see him looking so content to pet a cat. “So are you going to tell me what’s going on?” 

The Soldier glanced up at her for a moment, and didn’t miss a beat with the petting. “Tony’s dying.”

Natasha blinked a few times. That certainly wasn’t what she expected to hear. She looked down at the cat, spotting the top of the gnarled scars that ran across his chest, and then back at the Soldier. “Would it be mean to say that everyone knew the alcohol poisoning would have to catch up with him eventually?”

The Soldier narrowed his eyes. “Poisoning,” he repeated. Then he surprised Natasha by flopping back on the bed so that he was staring up at the ceiling. He picked the cat up and settled him back down on his stomach so that he was still within easy petting range. “Who are you?”

“Natasha Romanoff. Should I be insulted that you don’t remember me?”

The Soldier let out a surprisingly human sounding snort before he responded. “If I had money for everyone who got insulted that I didn’t remember them, I’d be as rich as Tony.”

Natasha wasn’t sure she wanted to delve into the minefield that would be an emotional conversation with the Soldier of all people, so instead she tossed him one of her favorite knives. He easily caught it in his metal hand without even sitting up. “Hydra found you because of your tracker. If you’re really serious about wanting to protect Stark, then you’ll need to get rid of it.” She’d offer to help, but she knew better than anyone how hard it was to trust a stranger with a knife. 

Even from the angle he was lying at, Natasha could see the small frown on the Soldier’s face. He sighed, and then gently moved the cat onto the bed so that he could get up and cram himself into the tiny bathroom. There were no sounds of pain from inside, and Natasha was impressed. 

With nothing better to do, she looked over at the cat, who was curled up on the bedspread. He was still awake, though, brown eyes blinking and slowly moving around the room. His tail occasionally flicked around, but for the most part he stayed still. “I must be insane to ask this, but are you really Tony Stark?”

The cat seemed to roll his eyes before giving a firm nod. This definitely ranked pretty highly on a list of Natasha’s most bizarre nights. She walked closer to the bed, and the cat- Stark- made no signs of hostility towards her. She leaned forward and reached out to scratch behind his ears. Surely Tony Stark would never allow such a thing. But he did, and from the way he purred, he seemed to rather enjoy it, too. 

Eventually the Soldier emerged from the bathroom, and he gave Natasha an unhappy look before tossing her knife back to her. He sat down on the other bed, and Tony hopped down away from Natasha, and made his way over to the Soldier. The Soldier leaned down to scoop Tony up and secure him on his lap again, he seemed almost smug that the cat had chosen him over Natasha. It was strange how the Soldier was almost like a completely person than he had been the first time they’d met. 

As she took off her shoes and laid down on the bed she’d claimed, Natasha glanced over at the Soldier. She was pretty sure that neither of them would be getting much sleep, since they did not trust each other enough. Tony didn’t seem to notice the strange tension, though, or perhaps he just didn’t care. He curled up in a ball right on the Soldier’s chest, and seemed perfectly content to spend the rest of the night there. When the Soldier reached up to rest one hand protectively over Tony’s back, Natasha wondered if it was even right to keep calling him ‘the Soldier’.  
,,,

Tony woke up slowly, stretching and pushing his back up to get a greater benefit out of the cool metal hand scritching through his fur. He took a minute to enjoy the sensation before he decided that it was time to get up and start thinking of solutions. Regardless of whether or not Hydra was still real and on their tail, Tony had to get back to the witch’s house before the afternoon if he didn’t want to be stuck as a cat forever, which he definitely did not.

A quick glance over at the other bed showed that Natasha was awake as well, which meant that it was time for all three of them to start brainstorming. Not that Tony suddenly trusted a complete stranger, who could very well be leading them into some kind of trap, but there was always time to ditch her later if it seemed like things were going badly. 

He looked up at James and gave a pointed meow, and James gave him a small smile before he sat up. “I know of a safe house we can get to before the end of the day,” Natasha said, breaking the silence that had filled the room all night. 

James shook his head. “We need to go back to the house. Most of the team should have already moved on by now, and I can take care of whoever’s left.”

Natasha pursed her lips as she looked at James, and then glanced down at Tony for a second. “Going back to your hideout goes against all common rules of logic.” 

“They would not expect us to return there,” James reasoned. 

Natasha sighed. “Alright, fine, let’s go back then.”

Tony narrowed his eyes, and nudged his head against James’ thigh to get the man’s attention. James looked down at him, and then it was almost like he could read Tony’s mind as he looked at Natasha again. “Why don’t you just leave us? You have no reason to put yourself at risk for either of us.” 

Natasha sighed, and then just shrugged before standing up. “We’ve already established that none of us have any reason to trust each other, but I can freely admit that I wouldn’t feel as though I properly completed my job if I don’t make sure that you stay safe. Both of you.” 

Tony gave Natasha a long look. He wanted to ask what she meant by her ‘job’, but of course he couldn’t say anything. He looked up at James, and wondered if he’d caught the word as well. But James didn’t mention it, so Tony just resigned himself to the idea of having to wait until later to get answers. “Let’s go.”

“Don’t even want to have something to eat first?” Natasha asked, something almost smug about her voice.

James started to shake his head, but then glanced down at Tony, who already knew that he made quite a pathetic looking cat. “Something quick,” he conceded. “And then we need to go.” He picked up Tony, as carefully as always, and then the three of them left the motel. When they stepped outside, Tony could see what a beautiful day it was, and immediately knew that something was going to go wrong.


	4. Chapter 4

The drive back to the witch’s house felt like it took less time than the drive away from it, though Tony wasn’t sure if that was just his perception because of the urgency of their escape, or if it was because Natasha had decided that speeding was okay. Not that he could really judge her if that was the case, because he had more than a few speeding tickets to his name.

As they got closer to the house, Tony couldn’t help feeling anxious. He couldn’t see the dashboard clock from where he was perched on James’ lap, and he couldn’t help feeling some kind of impending doom. What would he do if they got back too late? He didn’t seem to be quite as sick when he was a cat, but having an even slower death where he couldn’t even communicate or work on any of his projects seemed like the closest thing to hell that Tony could imagine, considering that he didn’t believe in any kind of after life. If there was a god out there, though, he was definitely looking down on Tony and just laughing.

Once again, James seemed to understand what Tony was thinking, because he began to stroke his metal hand across Tony’s back in a soothing manner. “We still have time,” he murmured. “You won’t be stuck, I promise.” Tony let out a relieved sigh, and butt his head into James’ stomach to let the man know that he was grateful for the reassurance.

Then the car eventually slowed to a stop, and Natasha looked at Tony and James with critical eyes. “No offense, Tony, but you should probably wait in the car while the Soldier and I clear the house. You’re a civilian anyways, and right now you’re absolutely useless in a fight.”

James scowled at the redhead. “He’s coming with,” he insisted. He unbuckled his seatbelt, and then paused with one hand on the door. “And I go by James.” Then he stepped out, reaching up to let Tony perch on James’ shoulder so that James would have both of his hands free to fight. 

The three of them cautiously approached the house, but in the end there were only two agents patrolling around the house, and James and Natasha were able to easily take care of them. Once they were satisfied that the outside was clear, they headed in, and Tony leapt down from James’ shoulder, turning back into a human midair so that his human feet landed on the floor. He let out a sigh of relief at knowing that he wasn’t stuck as a cat, at least not this time, though he couldn’t ignore the sharp pangs in his chest. Stupid palladium poisoning.

He followed James and Natasha as they made sure that the inside of the house was clear, and then they all went to the kitchen for some coffee. Tony might not have the strongest heart, but that didn’t mean that there was any force in this world strong enough to stop Tony from chugging down his caffeine. 

After he’d had two cups, he figured that he could slow down, especially because the slight caffeine buzz was already doing a good job of making his chest hurt just a little bit less than before. “So. I feel like we have a lot to talk about.”

“Why on Earth would you say that?” Natasha deadpanned.

James just reached out to give Tony a supportive pat on the shoulder, and Tony couldn’t help leaning into it. He wasn’t sure if it was because some of the cat-like tendencies were starting to cling to his human form as well, or just because he really enjoyed the warmth of James’ touch, but he decided not to question it. There were much more important things to worry about at the moment, like the fact that he was dying, Natasha was a complete stranger, and apparently Hydra was still around. He glanced over at the coffee pot on the counter. Yeah, he was definitely going to need a lot more.  
,,,

The Soldier- James- acted pretty much the same around the human Tony as he had around the cat. It was quite interesting to watch, since Natasha never could have imagined that the Sold- that James could be so affectionate. All those soft touches, soft words, and soft looks seemed to add up to something more than protectiveness, though even Natasha’s strongest spy instincts didn’t seem eager to dig up more information on the relationship between the two. Despite everything she’d heard about Tony Stark over the years, she was starting to believe that she’d never even known half as much about him as she’d thought, and he seemed like he needed James just as much as James needed him. Besides, there would always be time for nosiness later. 

“So… Hydra,” Tony started. “Good thing that ol’ Cap isn’t around anymore, or else he’d be mighty pissed to learn that he died for nothing.” He looked at James, though there didn’t seem to be any apprehension in his eyes. “So what do you know about Hydra? Nat mentioned that you’re… you work for them?”

Natasha graciously decided not to get upset about the unauthorized nickname. James looked uncomfortable as he shifted in his seat (though that could just be because the furniture in this house all looked and felt like it had been made a couple hundred years ago, and had not been well maintained). “They give me missions, and I complete the missions. But I could not…” he trailed off and gave Tony a desperate look, like he was hoping that the genius would understand him even without the words.

And it seemed to work, because Tony just gave James a small smile and a nod, and then he reached out to pat the back of James’ hand. “Alright. So they gave you a folder about me and gave you a mission to get me, but you didn’t. And now they’ve come here, and Nat had mentioned that you had a tracker. But you cut it out, which means that they couldn’t have known that we’d come back here. So to sum up our current situation: Hydra is after us, most of the rest of the world thinks I’m already dead, I’m dying, I’m tied to this stupid house which means that we can’t run, and I have none of my tech to work with so we’re basically blind and sitting ducks out here. Is that everything?”

James put his hand on top of Tony’s, sandwiching it gently between both of his. “We will figure out a way to get out of this,” he promised. “I will not let them take you.” 

There was a level of devotion in his voice that Natasha rarely ever heard directed towards anyone, and she decided once and for all that any previous assessment of Tony on file was inaccurate, because the man described in the Shield database would not have been able to inspire such loyalty in a man as damaged and twisted as James was.   
,,,

When nobody had answered the phone, the man had gotten worried. He had been working in Hydra for so many years now that he had long ago gotten used to the vague paranoia that someone knew he was a liar, but it had come back in full force. He continued to call every couple of hours, but there was still no response, and he wondered if it was time to just cut and run. But if he did that, it would immediately give away the game if he hadn’t actually been made yet.

As he sat in the privacy of his own home, staring at a bottle of scotch from a shitty year, his burner phone rang and he rushed to answer it. “Where have you been?” he demanded.

“Sorry, but I was driving in close quarters for a while with the Asset, and I didn’t want to give him any reason not to trust me. And now I’ve set up base with him in a place where there’s no way to use electronics, so I had to wait until there was an opportunity to sneak out. You’re never going to believe this, but the Asset was with Stark when I found him, and is actually protecting Stark.”

The man blinked a few times as he processed that impossible sounding information. She was right- he didn’t believe it. And yet he knew that she had no reason to lie to him, so it had to be the truth. Not only had the Asset gone rogue, he’d also decided all on his own to protect the person he’d been sent to capture? The person who had been suspected to be dead by the rest of the world? The man couldn’t think of many other circumstances that could be considered quite as bizarre. “I’m not sure whether to be relieved or not. I mean, congratulations to Stark for still be alive, but him being with the Asset is going to make it much more difficult to protect the Asset.” 

There was a brief moment of silence before his contact responded. “He actually prefers to go by James- the Asset, not Stark.”

Not many people in Hydra knew the origins of the Asset, but the man did. Now he wondered if the Asset was starting to remember his past, or if the name was somehow connected to Stark, who already had a best friend named James. And also a father who had worked with the Howling Commandos back in the day. It would be nice if the man could just talk to Stark himself, but he knew that there was no chance of that ever happening, not if he wanted to be able to maintain his position where it was. 

“There’s something else,” his contact continued, in a more hesitant voice. “Stark can’t be away from our hiding place for longer than twenty-four hours at a time. You wouldn’t even begin to believe me if I told you why, so just know that we are unable to move out. I think that Stark and James plan to make a stand if another strike team shows up here.”

The man sighed and leaned back in his seat. He reached up to run a hand through his hair. “This just keeps getting better and better.” Then he turned to look out the nearest window, out at the starry night sky. “Act at your own discretion, but look out for yourself as well. You won’t be any help to anyone if you’re dead.”

There was a loud snort of derision on the other end. “How can you even say that in such a serious tone? I will get them through this, with both of them alive, and I will remain alive as well. Frankly I’m hurt that you’d even doubt me. Don’t worry about us. Focus on yourself. And you’ll have to wait for me to call you, because I won’t get your calls if I’m inside the house.” She hung up without any ‘goodbye’, and the man slowly slid the phone back into his pocket. Who could have possibly guessed that signing up to work for Hydra would mean signing on to get himself caught up in trouble? Still, he couldn’t help the overwhelming feeling of relief that rushed through him at the knowledge that Tony Stark was still alive. Even he’d started to believe- but it didn’t matter now. Tony Stark was alive, and if the man had any say in the matter, he would definitely make sure it stayed that way.  
,,, 

The Asset- no, James- felt uneasy as he paced around the ground floor of the house while Tony slept upstairs in his room. Now that the place had been breached by Hydra, it was no longer a safe place, and yet he understood why they could not move on from here. 

And his feelings of unease were only increased by the presence of Natasha, who was still virtually a stranger to both him and Tony. Even after their long conversation earlier, Natasha had expertly managed to avoid saying much of substance about herself. And the Asset- James- had noticed when Natasha had slipped outside to have a phone conversation. There wasn’t enough cover outside, though, so he hadn’t been able to follow her to listen in. It could have been a perfectly innocent conversation, but it also might not have been. If it was just about James, maybe he wouldn’t care so much, but he refused to risk Tony’s life by putting his trust into Natasha. So for now, he resigned himself to being on edge and wishing that he could just go back to a couple of days ago when it had just been him and Tony and everything had been good.

James paused in his pacing when he heard a noise coming from upstairs. He knew that Tony had a tendency to have nightmares when he slept alone, and James headed up to fix that problem. At least there was something that James understood well enough to be able to solve it, even as everything else in his life remained utterly confusing.

He pushed open the door to Tony’s room without knocking, and saw that Tony was tangled up in his blankets, and gasping loudly like he couldn’t breath. James hurried over and knelt down next to the bed, reaching out to take Tony’s nearest hand. He gave it a gentle squeeze, and spoke quietly about random nonsense until Tony’s eyes fluttered open.

Tony rolled onto his side, not letting go of James’ hand, and stared at him. “My hero,” he whispered, though his voice didn’t contain the same teasing tone that it usually did. 

James managed to offer a small smile. “I could say the same to you.” Tony just scoffed, and James shook his head. “I mean it. Seeing a little cat on the street that needed my help was enough to make me open my eyes.”

Tony smiled. “Well then I’m glad that we were able to help each other. It’s been really nice having you in my life. If I did believe in an afterlife then I would believe without a doubt that I will miss you.”

James’ smile faded away as Tony spoke. “Don’t say that,” he all but growled. “You are not going to die. I will not allow it.”

Tony laughed, and leaned over to press his forehead against James’, and they both just stayed there like that for a few minutes, eyes closed, even though it had to be uncomfortable for Tony to lean over at that angle. He almost started to think that Tony had somehow fallen asleep in that position, but then Tony whispered, “You know, I’m starting to think that you’re my new favorite person.”

James’ eyes snapped open so that he could stare at Tony in surprise. Tony’s eyes were still closed, though. James hesitated, and then moved to gently shift Tony so that he was lying down properly in his bed again. “You’re my favorite person too,” he whispered back.

“That doesn’t count, you barely know anyone else,” Tony laughed.

James pulled the blanket up to make sure that it wasn’t tangled around any of Tony’s limbs, and then tucked the man in. “It counts to me,” he said in the kind of voice that made it impossible to argue. Then he waited another few minutes to make sure that Tony had fully fallen asleep before he left the room and returned to his pacing downstairs. He ignored the look on Natasha’s face when she appeared out of the shadows. She was probably just jealous that she wasn’t someone’s favorite person the way James was.  
,,,

Tony had hoped that he’d be able to wake up fresh in the morning with lots of good ideas that had come to him in his dreams about how he could solve all the problems of the current situation. Unfortunately, the only dreams he had were definitely not the kind he was willing to share with anyone, especially not James.

He wasn’t surprised to get down to the kitchen and see James and Natasha both already awake and drinking coffee. He knew from past experience that James could go a couple of days without sleeping and still be in perfect condition, and he suspected that whoever was in charge of making bodies need sleep was probably too scared of Natasha to tell her that she needed it too.

Tony clapped his hands together loudly, not fond of the tense silence that had been going on in the room before he’d arrived. “So! Who’s ready to start figuring shit out? We only have a limited amount of time, so we’d better work fast.”

Natasha gave him a long look. “Limited time because you’re dying?”

Tony shot her a couple of finger guns and a wink. “Right on the money, honey. Alright, so if we take advantage of the fact that there’s no tech allowed in this house, even though normally I would call that the exact opposite of an advantage- which would be a disadvantage in case anyone was wondering- for now we can assume-”

“First priority is fixing you,” James interrupted. “Then we can focus on the rest.”

Tony’s shoulders slumped down as he gave James an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, but I have no idea what can be done to ‘fix’ me. If I take out the arc reactor, I’ll be dead within a week. There’s no other material I can think of that can be used to replace the palladium, and I don’t have any way of running tests or numbers or simulations from here. So basically what I’m saying is that there’s nothing that can be done for me. Let’s just look at the things that we’ve got the slightest chance of fixing, even if it does still seem to be somewhat impossible.” 

James didn’t look happy with that answer, but Tony didn’t know what else to tell him. It was true that he had no idea how to cure the palladium poisoning. And at this point, he couldn’t help thinking that it was just karma for the kind of life he’d lived for so long. Well, maybe he wouldn’t go that far. Being stuck as a cat he could call karma, but a slow and painful death seemed to be taking it a bit far. Good thing he didn’t even believe in karma.

Natasha cleared her throat, which pulled Tony out of his own spiralling thoughts. “Taking down all of Hydra might be a little ambitious, but I know where we can start, at least. I have a contact in Hydra, an undercover agent. He’s been with Hydra for about twenty years now. He’s the one who sent me to find James in the first place. I don’t trust easily, but I trust him.” 

Tony couldn’t help rolling his eyes. “Oh, well, if the person we don’t trust says that we can trust some other person that we don’t know, then clearly we should believe her.” Honestly, trust was such a strange thing to worry about at the moment, and Tony wasn’t sure he had it in him to be handing his out without any good reason to. 

But Natasha did seem to understand that, because she gave a single sharp nod. “I can understand your reluctance. Even I don’t know his real name. But he is high ranking and knows all the ins and outs of Hydra. He can help, and more importantly, he wants to help.”

Well, wasn’t that just convenient? Natasha just happened to know a high ranking Hydra agent who was actually an undercover good guy? And that wasn’t even getting into the fact that Tony was pretty sure nobody could get to be a high ranking Hydra agent unless they did shitty things, and whether it was in the name of doing good or not, it was still shit. And surely this mysterious contact couldn’t have been giving away any important secrets, or else he would’ve been caught and killed ages ago, which meant that he probably hadn’t even been using his position for much good at all. 

A few minutes passed by in awkward silence, and then Natasha rolled her eyes as she stood up. “Alright, if you don’t want to trust him, then that’s fine. We’ll do things your way. But just know that if you get yourself or me killed, I am going to be royally pissed.”

“You’re still entirely welcome to just walk away,” Tony couldn’t help pointing out. “You don’t even know us; you have no obligation to help. Other than whatever job it is that you mentioned the other night.”

James put his hand down on the table, though it was with much less force than Tony knew he was capable of. “This is getting us nowhere. We need a sure way to get rid of Hydra, and to cure Tony. Both of which require us to be mobile.”

Tony raised one eyebrow. “So what do you suggest? That we just drive back and forth everyday and hope that we don’t accidentally drive home too late one day? Or- or you could go without me,” he couldn’t help suggesting, even though it made something in his chest feel like it hurt more than the palladium poisoning. “You’d be able to move a lot faster without me around, and I’ll be fine here. You already said that Hydra wouldn’t expect us to come back anyways.”

James shook his head. “No. I am not going anywhere without you.”

It was hard to say whether or not James understood just how lovely such a sentiment was, but regardless, Tony still thought he might tear up a little bit hearing that. He wanted to just pull James into a hug and never let go, but he wasn’t sure if that would be pushing too many boundaries, so he settled for giving James what was surely a rather dopey looking grin. “I’d say that I’m not going anywhere without you either, but it probably doesn’t mean as much considering that I really can’t go far without help anyway.”

That got a small smile, which felt like a victory. Then James’ face went back to serious mode as he glanced at Natasha for a second. “I don’t like the idea any more than you do, but maybe we should-”

The conversation was cut short by the sudden and unscheduled appearance of the witch who had caused all of Tony’s problems in the first place. She didn’t bother with the old lady schtick, probably because there was no point after revealing her real face to Tony. “So I’ve been thinking and I think I’ve…” she trailed off when she realized that there were other people in the room. “Oh, uh, hello.”

The way that James glared at the girl like she was an intruder was rather nice, but in the end he was pretty sure that the witch would have to be involved in whatever actions were taken to lift the curse, so Tony couldn’t let James hurt her. (Well, that and the fact that she was just a kid, and if he’d been killed whenever he made a mistake as a kid, he never would have lived long enough to make as many mistakes as an adult as he had).

Tony reached out to put his hand on James’ shoulder. “Relax, that’s just the person who cursed me and basically kidnapped me and held me hostage for the past two years,” he joked (or mostly jokes, anyways). 

James let out a growl that was- well, wow. Probably going to be starring in some of Tony’s dreams in the future. Then he shook his head and looked back at the kid. She clasped her hands together in front of her, and had a miserable look on her face. Which really wasn’t fair, since she wasn’t the one who had been cursed by someone so incompetant that they didn’t even know how to fix it. “Mr. Stark, can I talk to you in private?”

It gave Tony a funny feeling in his chest when James looked at him to make sure he would be okay alone with the witch, and he gave a small nod. James started to leave, but when Natasha stayed where she was, James went back to grab her by the arm and pull her out of the room. Tony was pretty sure that they were both going to listen in on the conversation anyway, so it was only an illusion of privacy for the witch. “I wasn’t sure if you were even going to come back again, considering.”

She gulped, and then nodded once. “Yeah. I can’t blame you for thinking that, but I wasn’t going to just leave you here. I’ve been doing a lot of asking around, and I think I might have figured out how to lift the curse. It’s still not anything I can do on my end, unfortunately, but the curse should break if you get a true love’s kiss.”

Tony blinked a couple of times, then snorted before he reached up to run a hand through his hair. “Great. Then I guess I’m going to be stuck with this curse forever. I don’t know how much you know about me, kid, but I’m not exactly a ‘true love’ kind of guy.”

“Steph.” Tony gave her a confused look, wondering if that was some kind of spell or something, and she sighed. “My name is Steph. So you know who to curse to hell, or whatever. Anyways, I won’t bother you again, unless I learn more about your curse. I’ll still keep the kitchen stocked like always, and let you stay here, and I’ll throw up a few extra protection spells around the grounds, but you don’t have to see me any more.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a smooth, round pinkish rock, and tossed it to Tony. He let it drop to the floor, because being thrown something was pretty much the same as being handed something. “If you need me for anything, just call me on that. I’ll leave you alone now.” 

Tony frowned. “Wait- can you make it so that I can use tech in this house again? The people who matter already know where I am, and having my stuff can only help me look for some way to save myself.”  
Steph paused, and then nodded. “Yeah, I can do that, don’t worry. “Then she was gone a moment later.

James and Natasha immediately came back into the kitchen, which confirmed that they’d been listening in. “True love, huh?” Natasha said in an almost gentle voice. 

Yeah, Tony was pretty sure that he was going to be stuck under this curse for the rest of eternity. There was a well-timed pang in his chest, and he corrected himself. He’d be stuck under the curse for the rest of his life, and he couldn’t imagine that that would be a very long time. He still didn’t trust Natasha, or whoever her mysterious nameless contact was, but he was dying and he needed to make sure James would be alright after he was gone, so what other choice was there? “So what can your contact do for us, exactly?”  
,,,

The man shut off his computer and leaned back in his seat as he got ready to go home for the day. The strike team sent after the Asset- after James, as he supposedly preferred to be called- had returned to base to report their failure, as well as to report that two of their team members had not been heard from. Maybe he was getting soft in his old age, but all he did was chastise them for their idiocy, and then he told them that he would personally look into the matter of the missing team members while the rest of them moved on to their next mission assignment.

Nobody stopped him on the way out of the building, which he was glad about. He hated having to make small talk with the other Hydra higher ups, though it was something he’d gotten rather good at over the years. He walked inside his empty house, and even though he hadn’t let himself think about such things in years, he suddenly fiercely missed the sound of a child’s excited voice shouting out for him to come look at something or other. 

Even though he never brought anyone into his house, the man was still careful to keep no personal effects that could potentially out him as an undercover agent. Nothing except for one single photograph, which was kept in a safe in the wall in his bedroom. 

With thoughts of the past on his mind, the man entered the safe combination, and then rifled through a stack of papers and money before he found the folder he was looking for. He was glad that no one was around to see how badly his hands shook as he opened the folder and looked down at the photograph that showed him everything he had lost, and everything he had given up, to get to where he was now.

The picture showed him as a somewhat younger man, though still nowhere near his youth, standing next to who he saw as the most beautiful woman in the world, and in between the two adults was a curly haired boy grinning as he tried to reach up to put a paper crown on the man’s head. The photograph had been taken at the perfect moment to capture the fond little smile on his wife’s face as she looked at the boy, the mischievous look on the boy’s face, and the love in the man’s eyes as he tried to give the boy a stern frown that was clearly ineffective. Then he flipped it over to read the painfully familiar script that had faded over the years.

‘_Happy Birthday, love! Ana, Edwin, & Tony, 1980_’  
,,,

James watched with sharp eyes as Natasha pressed some buttons on her phone and then held it up to her ear. The witch had told Tony that she’d lift the ban on electronics inside the house, but it had only taken a couple of seconds to prove that she hadn’t done anything yet. Considering what Tony had explained about how she had cast a spell without even knowing how to undo it, James wouldn’t be surprised if she never followed through. 

He still didn’t trust Natasha, but he was willing to follow Tony’s lead, and since Tony wanted to give Natasha’s Hydra contact a try, James was going to go along with it, though of course he was going to do everything in his power to make sure that Tony wasn’t harmed by any of this. 

Natasha stood just far enough away that even James superior senses couldn’t pick up on her end of the conversation while he stood in the doorway, and there was definitely nowhere else he was going to stand while Tony was still in the house and there were potential threats that could try to get inside.

As he stood there, he was aware of Tony walking up to him, and reaching up to gently pat James’ metal arm once before he took a step away. James wanted to reach out and hold Tony’s hand, because the easiest way to keep the man safe was if James knew where he was at all times, but didn’t want to cross any unknown barriers. Just because Tony welcomed touch when he was in the throws of a nightmare didn’t mean he’d appreciate it in the light of day.

They both just stood there silently for a minute until Natasha snapped her phone shut (and James hid a smile as he imagined the outrage that Tony must feel at the sight of someone using a flip phone) and walked back over to the front doorway. “So here’s the thing: my contact can actually do quite a bit to keep Hydra off your backs, but in order to do so he’d have to compromise his position within the organization, and would need to know that he’d have your protecting.”

James frowned. He didn’t want to provide protection to anybody from Hydra, no matter how much they claimed to be one of the good guys. He found it too difficult to believe that anyone from Hydra could ever be good. But if this guy was willing to help protect Tony, didn’t that make it worth it? To make sure that Hydra never took away Tony’s spark, or his smile, or the joy he got from just rambling on about whatever obscure subject he’d learned about. “It’s Tony’s decision,” he finally said. “He’s the one with the resources to provide protection.”

Tony shook his head, and after a long pause, he reached out to brush the side of his hand against the side of James’. And even though the metal hand didn’t have the best sensitivity, he thought he could feel the touch anyways. “No it’s not. It’s our decision. Together. We will decide this together.”

James had to look away from Tony’s bright eyes so that he wouldn’t feel too overwhelmed. “We’ll think about it,” he amended. “How long does your contact have to make a decision?”

“The situation that’s perfect for us will probably be resolved by the end of the day, so my contact needs to know whether to move or not before the end of the day.” He hesitated before looking at Tony. “There is one other condition. He says that once he’s out of Hydra he does not want to meet you in person under any circumstances.”

Tony blinked once, then shrugged. “Fine by me. I’ll have Pep set him up with all the money and papers he needs, and I’m stuck here for the foreseeable future.” He tilted his head up to look at James. “What do you think?”

“I don’t like it, but it seems like our best option at the moment.”

Tony nodded. “Yeah, I agree.” He looked back at Natasha. “Tell him to do his thing.”  
,,,

Steve Rogers woke up in a world that was so different from the one he’d known. It was like something out of one of those bad sci-fi comics Bucky had always loved reading. But he didn’t have much time to think about just how much things had changed, because from the moment he woke up, he’d been dragged off by a man who said he worked with Shield- an organization founded by Howard and Peggy to protect the world. But apparently Hydra had never been destroyed, and had instead built itself into Shield from the foundation up, and Agent Coulson explained that Hydra would want to get their hands on Steve if they could.

Steve didn’t fully understand the politics of this new world, but he did know that nazis were bad, and he knew that he needed to do his part to help rather than just keep running around. There were helicarriers and explosions and excitement, and then one of the biggest branches of Hydra was gone, though Steve was under no illusions that it was gone for good. Not this time, anyways.

As he got back to his apartment after one of the missions he’d been on for Coulson’s new Shield, he saw a manilla envelope crammed partially under the front door. Steve picked it up cautiously but didn’t detect anything dangerous about the envelope. He took it inside with him and then opened it to see what was inside.

There was very little, just a few documents that were mostly redacted, and a few photographs. But they were enough to tell Steve one very crucial fact: he was not as alone as he thought in this new world, because Bucky was out there somewhere too.  
,,,

He hadn’t been known as “Edwin Jarvis” in such a long time that it felt almost fake to go by that name again. For the same reasons he didn’t want to see Tony, he also didn’t want to use his old name. He was such a different man than who he’d been twenty years ago, and he’d done terrible things to maintain his cover in Hydra. He had more blood on his hands than Tony ever could (and of course he’d kept track of Tony through the news, and knew that Tony had stopped the production of weapons in his company and had switched to other endeavors). Tony was a good man, who had made changes when he saw injustice. But Edwin had gone out of his way to do injustices, and even if he’d never enjoyed it, that didn’t change what he’d willingly done.

He couldn’t stand to face Tony again, not with how tainted he was, but there was someone else Edwin wanted to see before he slipped off the radar again. He walked down a long hallway and tuned out the mindless chatter around him, until he finally stepped into a room with a woman lying in bed, reading a newspaper. 

She glanced up when he walked in, and then did a double-take. “Ed? And I thought that today was a more lucid day for me.”

Edwin offered a small smile as he walked further into the room so he could look down at the woman who’d been one of his closest friends many years ago. “There’s nothing wrong with you. I’m really here, Peggy. I didn’t die with Ana. Because it seemed as though I had, though, it put me in a position to do things that needed to be done, and keep eyes in places that Shield couldn’t.” He reached out to take one of Peggy’s hands and give it a light squeeze. “Do you have time to catch up? It’s been a while.”

Peggy returned the squeeze, though her grip was weaker. “Yes, far too long. Now sit down and tell me all about it,” she told him in a voice that demanded no arguments. Edwin grabbed the nearest chair and pulled it closer to the bed so that he could sit down and hear about all the life that he’d missed out on being a part of.

They talked for a while, with Peggy doing most of the talking and Edwin asking as many questions as he could think of. He felt bad when he saw that she was getting tired, but he wasn’t sure if he’d ever get the chance to come back here. Eventually though, he knew that he needed to leave and give Peggy a chance to rest. 

She sighed in defeat as he stood up, and leaned back against the pillows that propped her up. “What a shame that you could not come back sooner. I’m afraid that Tony’s going to be gone before I am.”

Edwin frowned. “He may act foolish, but he has people in his life who love him and won’t let him-”

Peggy snorted, and looked up at him with sadness in her eyes. “I don’t mean he’s going to get himself killed from recklessness at some vague point in the future. I mean that he’s dying now. Can you believe the nerve of that boy, to call me and tell me such a thing and then say that he can’t even come see me?” The usual fire in her eyes seemed to fade a bit as she slumped back. “Oh, can you go tell Howard that I cracked his code? He’s going to have to do better than that if he wants to stop me.”

Edwin gave Peggy a small, sad smile. “Yes, I’ll go tell him now. It was lovely to see you again, Agent Carter.” Then he left, mind torn between feeling sad about Peggy, and feeling worried out of his mind about Tony. The boy had been presumed dead for two years now, and he was dying? He didn’t want to face Tony, not as the man he’d become, but he found that he couldn’t bear the idea of Tony dying alone in the house that his contact said he was trapped in. 

Edwin had taken care of Tony when he was sick all through his childhood, and even with all the years of absence between them, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was still needed to take care of Tony.  
,,,

Tony tried not to think about how pathetic James looked as he moped around the room. Tony hadn’t even been able to move around on his own for the past day and a half, and was confined to his bed. He knew that he had to look like a mess, and this whole process of dying was agony, but somehow the worst part was seeing how upset James looked. Unfortunately, since he was supposedly dead, he hadn’t been able to add anything to his will for James’ sake, but at least he knew that Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy would all be taken care of, as well as Jarvis and the bots.

Tony continued telling James about what he’d do to make a better prosthetic arm than Hydra had, when James’ eyes suddenly narrowed. “Someone’s at the door.” His suspicion was understandable, since it wasn’t the day for Tony’s friends to show up, and they weren’t exactly expecting anyone else.

James motioned for Tony to stay where he was, and he resisted the urge to remind James that there wasn’t exactly anywhere else Tony could go. He waited tensely, and wished that he had James’ super hearing so that he could know what was going on downstairs. With Hydra mostly dismantled, it couldn’t be them, could it? Or had Tony’s friends showed up for a surprise visit to make up for missing his birthday (something he hadn’t even been aware of until Pepper had showed up and gave him a card and apologized for its lateness)? 

It felt like it took forever before he heard footsteps going up the stairs, and it didn’t escape his notice that there were clearly two sets. He watched with wide eyes as James entered the room first, but no one followed him in. He walked over to the bed and knelt down as he reached out to gently touch the top of Tony’s hand. “He doesn’t seem like a threat and said that he’s an old friend of yours.”

Tony furrowed his brows in confusion, but he was intrigued. He didn’t exactly have many friends at all, let alone ones that knew he was alive and knew where to find him. But if it was a trick, James could easily take down any threat, so Tony gave a weak shrug. “Sure, let him in then.”

The visitor must have been standing right next to the open doorway to listen, because he stepped inside a moment later. For a few seconds, Tony just stared at the old man, and tried to figure out why he looked vaguely familiar. The visitor spoke first, “What have I told you about staying out of trouble, Anthony?” and his very familiar voice was thick with emotion in a way that the AI version’s never was. 

“Jarvis?” he croaked out. He had to be dreaming, or maybe he was hallucinating from the effects of the palladium poisoning that was only getting worse each day. 

But the man hurried forward, much quicker than Tony would have expected from someone of his age, and after a brief pause, he knelt down at the same time that Tony sat up and he gave Tony a gentle hug, like he was afraid that he’d hurt Tony if he held too tightly. Tony barely paid any notice to James leaving the room to give them privacy. Tony was too busy focusing on how everything about the hug reminded him of the best parts of his childhood. “You-? How-? I thought-?”

He didn’t even realize he was crying until Jarvis cupped the back of his head and made soft soothing noises. “It’s alright, I’m here.” He kissed Tony’s forehead the way that he always had when calming Tony down as a child, and even after so many years had passed, it seemed as effective a tactic as ever. “I know you must have a lot of questions, but I have many of my own. I’ve been to see Peggy, and she told me that you’re dying. You must know that my old heart is not strong enough to stand for that.”

Tony sniffled as he pulled away to lie back down, even the small amount of exertion utterly exhausting to him. He reached up to tap his arc reactor once, and then dropped his hand. “You’ve missed a lot,” he started. 

Jarvis moved to sit on the edge of the bed, and reached up to brush Tony’s hair off of his forehead. “You’d best tell me all about it, then.”  
,,,

James didn’t know who exactly their guest was, but he knew that the man sounded the same as the bodiless voice that lived in Tony’s tower, and he knew that Tony had looked utterly shocked and overjoyed to see the man, and that was good enough for James. 

He let the two of them talk alone for hours, though he did go upstairs to check on Tony every now and then just to make sure everything was alright, and to bring him food and water. He was very worried about Tony’s deteriorating condition, and could only hope for some kind of miracle cure, as unrealistic as that seemed. 

It was a little after dark when the guest came downstairs, eyes red like he’d been crying. He cleared his throat, and James looked at him curiously. “He’s asleep,” he said softly. “Thank you for taking care of him. And be sure to thank the others for me. I’ve only met Colonel Rhodes, but I’m sure that Miss Potts and Mr. Hogan must be special to have helped take care of him too.”

“You’re leaving? Tony seemed so happy to have you here.”

The man cleared his throat, and pulled his jacket closed. “I’m afraid that I must go. I should not have even come here in the first place, but I had to see him to say goodbye.”

James shook his head. “You don’t have to say goodbye. He’s going to survive,” he insisted, even though he knew how naive it had to make him sound. 

The man offered him a small smile. “If anyone’s strong enough or smart enough to fight an unknown disease, it would be Tony.” 

He left quickly after that, and then James went upstairs to check on Tony. He was asleep, just like the visitor had said, and James rearranged the blankets to make sure that Tony would be as comfortable as possible. Then he settled down into his usual position to watch over Tony, ready to fight off any nightmares that might dare to plague the dying man.

In the middle of the night, Tony started wheezing and struggling to breath, and James tried to calm him down, but nothing seemed to work. James carefully scooped Tony up, blankets and all, and gently shushed him. “It’s going to be alright, doll.” 

He didn’t know how it worked, but Tony had told him that the symptoms of the poisoning seemed to be weaker when he was in his cat form, so James hurried out of the house. He paused in surprise in front of the house when he still held a fully human Tony in his arms. A human Tony who was clearly still suffering. 

James didn’t stop to question it, and raced over to the car. He set up Tony lying down in the backseat, and then drove to the Tower, since he was pretty sure that a normal hospital wouldn’t be able to do anything to help. If he’d thought that the regular medicine field would be of any help here, he would have snatched a few doctors and forced them to help Tony ages ago.

The private elevator that he’d been taken on last time opened without prompting, and the robotic voice spoke. “What is wrong with Sir?”

“He called it palladium poisoning. Can you help?”

“Yes. At least temporarily. This elevator will take you to the lab, where there is a spare arc reactor.”

James didn’t hesitate to set Tony down and pull out the current arc reactor, which was leaking a weird fluid, and replace it with a fresh one. Tony’s coughing died down after another moment, and then his eyes fluttered open, and James thought he might collapse out of relief. “Am I dreaming? How am I in my lab right now?”

He looked at the discarded arc reactor and gulped, but was kind enough not to actually confirm that he would have died if he hadn’t gotten a new one. Tony got to his feet, and staggered forward a couple of steps before James reached out to grab his waist to steady him. “Maybe you should take it easy for a little while?”

Tony shook his head. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m in my lab, which means that it’s time to get to work. If there’s anywhere in the world to find a cure, it’s going to be here.” He leaned into James’ chest. “Will you- will you stay with me?”

James wasn’t sure if Tony meant right now while he worked on finding a solution, or if he meant in the future once he had been cured, but it didn’t matter because James’ answer was the same either way. “Yes.”   
,,,

It seemed hopeless at first, when Tony had run tests and sims with every element on the table and none of them were compatible, and Tony had to admit that he was probably just about out of time. He could make a few more arc reactors and keep switching them out, but even that would probably not be enough to keep him going for longer than a few weeks. 

He didn’t say any of that out loud, though, because he could see that James was already freaked out enough. “Break time!” he declared loudly, and hoped that his AI wouldn’t compliment him for taking a break without prompting, because that would just be embarrassing. 

He’d pulled his dad’s old things out of storage to look at anything Howard might have written about arc reactor technology, and since the box was out anyways, Tony grabbed an old film reel. Maybe seeing Howard’s face would be good for James. He played the reel, and when his younger self was on screen, James reached out to give Tony’s hand a squeeze. “You were a cute kid.”

“I’m cute now,” Tony said with a sniff. 

As he watched the video, and listened closely to his dad’s words, he began to make some very important realizations, and for the first time in a while, Tony felt some real hope. Maybe, just maybe, he had a chance. All he had to do was invent a nonexistent element. How difficult could that be?  
,,,

When Tony looked at James with that bright grin of his, full of pride in himself for what he’d accomplished, James couldn’t resist the urge to lean down and give him a kiss. He pulled away immediately, and hoped that he hadn’t just ruined everything, but then Tony grabbed him by the front of the shirt and yanked him down into another kiss, and James knew that whatever else was going to happen in the future, everything was just perfect right in that moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you missed it, the curse broke when Jarvis kissed Tony's forehead because like Disney has shown us, true love doesn't have to be romantic.


End file.
